


Can(t) Change the Past

by lastyoungrene_gay_de



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Antisemitism, Boys In Love, Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, Day At The Beach, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Ghosts, Homophobic Language, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Jewish David "Dave" Katz, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, Love Confessions, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Moving In Together, Panic Attacks, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Past Drug Addiction, Past Drug Use, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Racism, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Racism, Stabbing, Starting a Business, Tags will be updated as the fic continues, Time Travel, Vacation, Veterans, also this fic has crt's dave because im miss him, au where klaus doesnt start a fucking cult, business owner klaus hargreeves, canon typical descriptions of death and blood and other klaus hargreeves stuff, dave is just fuckin uselessly gay, dave took one look at klaus and went hello my name is home of sexual and that's valid of him, descriptions of bloody scenes, discussing stabbing, discussions of/ referenced antisemitism, i completely changed dave's background bc i didn't like it and can do what i want, it's a klaus centric fic what did you expect??, kind of, klaus gets arrested, korean ben hargreeves, other characters and relationships will be added later i promise, they hate the military tho that comes up later, weird specific events history buff dave, yeah this chapter took THAT kinda turn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:53:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 79,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25907647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lastyoungrene_gay_de/pseuds/lastyoungrene_gay_de
Summary: Klaus meets someone different right after arriving in 1960. The following 3 years are very different.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Original Character(s), Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz, Raymond Chestnut/Allison Hargreeves
Comments: 215
Kudos: 524





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm rewriting Klaus' season 2 arc because.... I didn't like the one he got in the show jfnskhjf. will be dealing with klaus' sobriety, thinking the rest of his family is dead, he DID NOT start a cult because i fucking hated that, and the dave subplot is gonna be different.  
> so the beginning of this fic will focus on klaus and adjusting to the 60s AGAIN then it will get into the actual s2 events and how they would be different in this au

They both fell from the sky and onto their asses, just as gracefully as when Klaus landed in Vietnam. Which is to say, not graceful at all. Klaus had stumbled out of bars and raves more gracefully than how they landed… wherever the fuck they landed. 

“That was…” Klaus groaned and rubbed the back of his head, which he’d hit on the ground in his fall. 

“Exhilarating,” Ben finished for him with a manic grin. Of course he wasn’t proaning in pain, he was already dead! He didn't feel the pain Klaus did. “Where’s Five?” he asked as they both climbed to their feet. 

“Huh?” Klaus asked, distracted with holding his stomach that felt like it was flipping in his gut. They looked up at the crackling, flashing light a few feet above their head. It was the same kind of light that Five left behind when he jumped, and the one that had swallowed the siblings up in the Icarus theater. 

It was also getting smaller and smaller. 

“Five!” He screamed toward the light. “Diego! Allison!” With one last bright flash, it was gone. “Where is everybody?” he mumbled and turned to look at the brother that  _ was _ with him. Ben was walking toward the street from the alley they’d been dumped in. “Oh, they’re gone,” Klaus whined in an attempt to get his brother to say something as he walked after him. “They’re gone, like a fart in the wind.” Ben kept looking straight ahead. “Just me and you again. Great. Now where the hell are we?” They rounded the corner onto the sidewalk and stopped dead in their tracks. 

Nothing was right. At first Klaus thought everything looked outdated and out of place, then Klaus realized  _ he _ was the thing out of place. Klaus was used to not blending in places, sticking out like a sore thumb, however you wanted to put it, but this was different. He stuck out in a much different way. 

Everyone’s clothes looked like something actors wear in movies set in the fifties. Cars were clunky and boxy. The movie theater across the street was advertising showings for  _ Curse of The Undead _ , which Klaus was pretty sure wasn’t a new release back home. 

“I think the question is ‘ _ when _ are we?’” Ben said, pointing at a woman in a yellow and orange patterned dress with a clutch purse tucked under her arm, white gloves, and was pushing an old fashioned baby stroller. 

A seconds later, after the words sunk in, Klaus ran to the closest person on the street, which was a young man in khakis, a white button up polo covered by an incredibly tacky yellow, orange, and brown sweater that Klaus didn’t have time to comment on, yelling, “Hey! Hey! Excuse me. Could you tell me what year this is. Or what day?” 

The man looked at him with confused, slightly panicked eyes and took off down the sidewalk away from Klaus. Klaus realized he probably looked like a mad man, running around asking for something as obvious as the current year, but he didn’t really have the energy to care. He spun around in the street looking for anybody else to ask, but everyone seemed to have already pegged him as the crazy guy to avoid at all costs, and crossed the street already. 

“Klaus! Get over here!” Klaus spun around at the sound of his brother’s voice. He saw him standing next to a phone booth, looking down at something. 

“Yeah?” Klaus asked and wandered over to stand next to him. 

“Look,” Ben said and pointed down into what Klaus realized was a trash can. Right on the top of the pile of junk was a magazine with a headshot of a man with a strong jawline staring directly into the camera. 

“I mean, yeah, he’s pretty my type, but…”  _ But he’s no Dave _ , he thought, but Ben cut him off. 

“The date, you idiot,” he snapped. 

“Oh yeah,” Klaus mumbled and scanned the cover for a date. His eyes went wide when he finally found it. “February 11, 1960.” He dropped the magazine back into the garbage. “1960,” he repeated. 

He looked up at Ben who was still standing right next to him. “Shit,” they both said at the same time. 

  
  


Klaus sat on the concrete outside the diner he’d just been thrown out of, not sure what else to do. Ben sat next to him and together they stared at the bowling shoes still on his feet from when they’d failed to save the world. 

“Well,” he said, already defeated. “What do we do now?” 

“I don’t know,” Ben said. 

“Gee, that helps,” Klaus said and let his head fall against the brick wall with a soft  _ thunk _ . “Where the hell are the others?” 

“I don’t know,” Ben said again. 

“Stop saying you don’t know!” Klaus said loudly. The woman walking past him gave him an odd look as her heels clicked on the sidewalk. 

“But I  _ don’t _ know!” 

“I said stop saying that!” Klaus shouts, not caring bit who could hear him. 

“Uh, sir,” a rough voice suddenly cut in. A shadow shifted into Klaus’ vision, and he looked up to face the speaker. “Are you alright?” 

“Do I look alright?” Klaus shot back. He just wanted to be left alone- alone and preferably with a bottle of literally anything with an alcohol content. The man opened his mouth to speak again, but suddenly a loud  _ bang _ echoed down the street. He jumped a little, but his reaction was nothing compared to Klaus’. He jumped out of his skin and  _ yelped _ . In an instant he had his knees pulled up to his chest so he was curled in on himself as much as possible and clapped his hands over his ears. He couldn’t hear anything other than his own blood rushing in his ears and his eyes were pinched shut. 

He felt a hand on his shoulder and the gruff voice spoke again, but this time it was muddled as if the man was speaking from a huge distance or they were underwater. “Hey. Hey man, you’re okay.” 

Klaus’ breath rattled as he inhaled and exhaled. 

“Klaus, you’re alright,” Ben’s voice cut through the panic in Klaus’ mind. 

“Hey, come on. It was just a truck man,” the new guy said, now crouching in front of him. He and Ben both talked Klaus through what ever the fuck he was doing. He didn’t know how long it was before he was able to have a conversation again. The man stayed squatted in front of him, watching him closely. 

“You serve?” he eventually asked curtly, still staring at Klaus. He nodded without looking up from the cement under the guy’s shoes. “You got a place to stay tonight?” He shook his head, still without looking up. The man sighed before saying anything else. “Come on. I know a place you can go.” Klaus finally looked up at him as he stood up. Klaus watched him from the ground with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. The man held out his hand to help him up, which Klaus eyes warily before taking it with a sigh. 

“Are you sure about this, Klaus?” Ben asked as they started walking. “Your last interaction with a fellow vet didn’t exactly end well.” 

“Well what else am I gonna do, Ben?” he hissed in response and turned back to the man. “So where are we going?” 

“A friend of mine runs a shelter,” he started. “Takes in a lot of vets.” 

“Oh,” Klaus said, not sure what else to say. 

“He don’t ask… questions,” the man continued and looked Klaus up and down. He pretended not to notice. “Just helps ‘em get back on their feet.” 

“Okay,” Klaus muttered. 

“Wha’s ya name, kid?” 

“Klaus Hargreeves.” 

“Alright Hargreeves, James Donohue,” he said and held out a hand for Klaus to shake. His grip was firm compared to Klaus’ distracted one. “Friends call me Huey.” 

“Ha, you got the news?” Klaus asked and chuckled at his own untimely joke. 

“Huh?” 

“Nothing,” Klaus dismissed with a wave of his hand. “Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about most of the shit I say. No one else does.” Huey sighed next to him. 

“People don’t take ya seriously since ya got back?” 

“No one took me seriously before that either,” Klaus said, noting every turn they took. “My family doesn’t even know I served. We were never close.” 

“‘S a damn shame,” Huey said with a huff. “A man needs his family.” There were  _ a lot _ of parts of that statement that Klaus disagreed with but he kept his mouth shut. 

They walked for a while more. Klaus was surprised how his tank top, fatigue vest, and leather pants weren’t too few clothes for the time of year. He looked around at the buildings and addresses around him trying to find out where in the fucking world he was. 

“Dallas,” Ben said next to him, obviously having already accomplished what Klaus had only now considered trying. 

“What?” he hissed in response, forgetting there was someone else with him. Huey didn’t say anything though. 

“Yup,” Ben said far too cheerily with his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. “Dallas, Texas, 1960.” 

“Goddamnit,” Klaus muttered under his breath and looked down at the concrete they were walking on. 

“Everything alright?” Huey finally asked. 

“Yeah, I just remembered something, nothing important though,” Klaus said, trying to keep to himself as much as possible. 

“If ya say so,” Huey reponsed and pointed to something up ahead. “It’s just a turn off this street then we’ll be there.” 

“Okay,” Klaus said. They walked the rest of the say to the shelter in silence. 

When they stopped in front of the building Klaus realized it was huge. Less of a typical shelter he’d stayed in on many different occasions and more like an entire hotel or apartment building. It must have been full of plenty of rooms for people to stay in. It had nothing on The Umbrella Academy for size, though. Oh well, Klaus had stayed in worse places. 

“Jimmy!” Huey called out as they walked through the door. “I brought a new guy in!” 

“I’ll be over in a minute!” another gruff, old voice called from a few rooms over. Klaus assumed it was Jimmy. They stood awkwardly in the empty space right inside the door. Klaus bounced on the balls of his feet as they waited. 

A minute later another older guy hobbled into the same space as them. He had piercing blue eyes that were far too sharp to be on the same face as as many wrinkles and scars as Jimmy had on his face. 

“Jimmy, this is Klaus Hargreeves,” Huey said. “Hargreeves, this is James Parker. He set this shelter up a few years back.” 

“Call me Jimmy. Nice to meet ya, Hargreeves,” Wilson said and held out his hand for Klaus to shake. He shook with his  _ Hello _ hand. “Interesting tattoos ya got there,” he added when he got a good look at the ink. 

“Yeah, not necessarily my brightest moment,” Klaus said. It wasn’t a lie, the fact that he didn’t actually remember the moment didn’t change that. Plus, according to Ben he’d been fucked up and fucking stupid, so. 

“Hargreeves is needin’ a place to stay for a bit,” Huey said. 

“Yeah, no problem,” Jimmy said with a nod. “We got a few rooms open so no one’ll have to share just yet.” No one said anything. Klaus didn’t know what to say, and the others were clearly waiting for him to speak. 

“Say thank you,” Ben hissed as he looked at the contents of a shelf in the next room. 

“Uhh, thanks,” he muttered. 

“‘S no problem, that’s why we’re here,” Jimmy said and looked Klaus up and down. “You need a change of clothes, boy?” The way he said it made Klaus think it wasn’t really a question. 

“Oh, uhh,” Klaus said and looked down at his outfit. The stitched leather pants and fitted tank top under his vest probably wasn’t the best thing for him to be walking around 1960’s Texas in. Still, he hated the idea of taking it off. It had been quite a look in the time period he’d just left. “Yeah, that’d be nice.” 

Jimmy nodded and looked over at Huey. “Could you get some clothes you think would fit him from the hall closet while I take him up to an empty room?” 

“‘F course,” Huey said and walked off. 

Jimmy tilted his head toward a set of stairs in the corner Klaus hadn’t even noticed until then. “Come on, let’s get you set up.” 

Klaus followed him up two flights of stairs and down a hallway to a smaller back room with a made bed, a small dresser, a closet in the corner farthest from the doorway, and a desk in one corner. It was more than anything Klaus was used to having and he couldn’t help but stare at it for a moment. His attention was only snapped away from it when footsteps walked up behind them. They both turned to see Huey holding a matching set of pajamas and some casual pants and a t-shirt. 

“I think this'll fit‘cha fine,” he said and handed the pile of folded clothes over to Klaus. He eyed them, having to bite back a comment about how boring they were. He’d find something more his style later. 

“Thanks,” he said softly. 

“You’re welcome,” Huey said and clapped a hand on Klaus’ shoulder. Klaus tried to hide his flinch at the quick moment. Huey and Jimmy exchanged a nod before the former walked off back down the hallway. 

“You can stay as long as you need, Hargreeves,” Jimmy said as he turned back to Klaus. “We’ll help you find a place to stay, help ya kind a job, but you’re welcome to stay for a while.” 

“Thank you,” Klaus said as he turned and looked around the room. 

“I know it’s a smaller room, but-” 

“It’s fine. I grew up in a room smaller than this and lived on the streets after that,” Klaus dismissed. “This might be  _ too  _ much room for me.” 

Jimmy pursed his lips. “Bathroom’s two doors down. If ya need anything just let me know.” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said and fell onto the bed. Jimmy left silently, softly pulling the door shut behind him. Klaus didn’t move. He just sat on the bed and stared at the tacky carpet under the even tackier bowling shoes he still had on. 

“Klaus?” Ben’s voice cut through the ringing in his ears. “Klaus are you okay?” 

“What happened to the others?” Klaus asked. “Do you think they’re okay?” 

Ben sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know, Klaus.” 

Klaus flopped down so his back was on the bed with his arms extended out on either side and his feet still on the floor. 

“What if they’re gone?” he asked. 

“Just go to sleep, Klaus,” Ben said. “It’s been a crazy day and you haven’t slept for most of it. We’ll worry about this tomorrow.” Klaus didn’t move. “Seriously, you need to rest. You can’t do anything for the others without any fucking energy, Klaus.” 

Klaus eventually changed into the old fashion matching pajama set Jimmy gave him to sleep in, and as much as he didn’t want to, he fell asleep. 

*****

“Hold on!” Five yelled over the whooshing of the air around the group. “This is gonna get messy!” 

Everything went red. Then it was all gone. Klaus was surrounded by blissful silence until- 

“Klaus!” his siblings yelled in unison. 

“No,” he whimpered. He could feel something solid under his feet, but when he looked down there was nothing there. It was just the same black void that surrounded him on all other sides. 

“Klaus what did you do?” Five yelled, a ghostly version of the boy suddenly appearing in front of him. “This was supposed to work! How did you mess it up?” 

“No, no, no, no, I didn’t mean to,” Klaus protested. 

“Can’t you do anything right, Klaus?” Luther’s voice boomed through the empty space. 

“What did you do Klaus?” Five screamed. The dream shifted, not physically, there was still darkness all around him but the energy surrounding him seemed to change. Then, instead of his siblings’ faces around him there were bright flashes and loud explosions- gunfire. 

“Goddamn it Hargreeves, we gotta get outta here. Leave him!” 

“No, no,  _ Dave _ !” Dave’s face, unmoving and empty, filled the space in front of him. 

“It’s your fault, Klaus,” Dave’s voice hissed in his ear. 

“No, no, no, I’m sorry,” Klaus cried. Dave’s face drifted away and joined a group of all the others Klaus had known who died during their tours. 

“You!” they all chanted at once. “You! You! You!” 

New noises came. Hard  _ thunks _ rather than sharp  _ bangs _ . There was a pattern to them; they weren’t random like the gun shots. 

_ One, two, three. _

_ One, two, three. _

“Hargreeves.” 

“Dave!” Klaus yelled as his eyes flew open and he sat up in bed. He spun around aggressively to take in his surroundings, nearly toppling off the bed in his confusion. Where was he? How did he get there? Who else was there? 

He heard the soft click of a door opening. He whipped his head toward the sound, heart pounding in his chest knowing he had no cover. 

“You alright, Hargreeves?” A man asked. No, not some random man, he realized- his name was Jimmy. Klaus met him yesterday. He was staying in a shelter. He’d time travelled again, but he  _ wasn’t _ in Vietnam. He wasn’t at the Academy. He wasn’t with his siblings. 

“Shit, sorry, was I screaming?” 

“Yeah,” Jimmy said. Klaus put his face in his hands. “Don’t worry about it. ‘T happens a lot ‘round here.” He walked over to the desk in the corner of the room and pulled the chair out, turning it so he could sit down and watch Klaus. “Mind if I ask you a few questions, boy?” 

“Huey said you don’t ask questions,” Klaus said, face still buried in his palms. 

“You don’t have to answer any of them if you don’t want to,” Jimmy explained calmly, undeterred by Klaus’ defensiveness. “I won’t make you leave if you don’t.” 

“And whyever not?” Klaus laughed. 

“Be nice, Klaus,” Ben said through gritted teeth. 

“Because this ain’t a vets only shelter,” Jimmy said. “And even if it was, it’s clear just from the look of ya that you’ve seen some shit.” 

“Talk, Klaus,” Ben said. “Remember all the group therapy in rehab you complained about? Talk like that. Vague, but enough to get the point across.” 

Klaus finally looked up and glared at his brother sitting at the foot of the bed. “Fine,” he muttered. “Only because I don’t have any other option.” If Jimmy thought it was weird that he was talking to what appeared to be thin air he kept it to himself. 

“You lose people?” was the first thing Jimmy asked. 

“Hasn't everyone?” Klaus responded without hesitating. Jimmy nodded firmly once then looked down at his hands in his lap. 

“That’s true enough,” he said and looked up. “Where’d you serve?” 

Klaus scoffed and shook his head. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he answered honestly. 

Jimmy didn’t push. “How long?” 

“Just under a year.” 

“Drafted?” 

“Well I sure as hell wasn’t there by choice,” Klaus laughed maniacally. Jimmy just nodded again. His calm neutrality about all of Klaus’ answers was beginning to drive him even more crazy. 

“Always makes it harder to bear.” 

“Is it ever any easier? Even going in voluntarily?” Klaus had served with plenty of men who signed up. They didn’t seem to handle any of it any better; they never really know what they were walking into. They expected anything they actually had to do. 

“Depends on the soldier,” Jimmy said and slowly pushed himself out of his seat. 

“Wha- is that it?” Klaus asked. 

“Yeah,” Jimmy sighed. “Unless you need somethin’ else.” Klaus bit his lip and considered whether to ask for what he really,  _ really _ wanted. 

“Don’t, Klaus,” Ben said. 

“You guys have anything to drink around here?” he asked despite his brother’s discouragement. 

“‘Fraid not,” Jimmy answered with a shake of his head. “Seen too many guys get too messed up by all that. Never ends well. I don’t let that stuff into the shelter.” 

“Thank god,” Ben said. Klaus ignored him as Jimmy continued. 

“You have a problem with that kinda stuff?” he said and lifted his chin. 

Klaus looked at the floor and nodded. “Just a few days sober now.” 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jimmy said. “Help ya out with that, make sure none a’ the others getcha anything.” 

God, Klaus  _ hated _ the sound of that. He wanted a hit. He wanted to find a bottle and chugg. He wanted to forget about all this shit- who he was, where he was, his missing family. He  _ still _ just wanted to be numb again. 

Still, he said, “thanks,” still without looking up from the floor. He still didn’t look up when Jimmy left and closed the door behind him. Klaus just sat on the bed feeling ridiculous in the blue and white striped pajamas he’d been lent. 

“Did you hear that, Klaus?” Ben said, taking Jimmy’s seat by the desk. “You won’t be able to get anything.” He wasn’t doing much to hide his joy in Klaus’ options being taken away yet again. 

“If I stay here,” Klaus corrected and looked up at his brother. “And who says I will?” 

“Klaus you can’t keep doing this,” Ben sighed. “You’re gonna kill yourself, and next time you might not come back.” 

“That’s kinda the point, dear brother,” Klaus groaned and rubbed his eyes. 

“What about the others? Diego and Allison and-” 

“What about them, Ben? They’re gone!” 

“You don’t  _ know _ that!” 

“And I don’t  _ want _ to!” Klaus yelled back. “I can’t-” He shook his head. “I just can’t, Ben.” Ben pursed his lips and looked away from him. “What’s the point of all this anymore, Ben?” Klaus’ voice broke as he asked. “The point of this was to see Dave again, but now I’m in 1960. He isn’t fucking dead and the alive Dave doesn’t fucking know me. And what if the others show up? I cannot fucking do that again.” 

“Klaus!” Ben snapped. “Just calm down before making any decisions, okay?” he suggested in a much gentler tone. Klaus hadn’t even realized his breathing was shaky and his heart was pounding in his chest again until Ben pointed it out. “Okay, okay?” Ben said softly once he’d gotten Klaus to calm down a little and his breathing was under control again. “And about the others,” he continued, and Klaus whipped his head up to look at him with wide, terrified eyes. He quickly added, “Let’s cross that hypothetical bridge when we get to it, okay?” 

Klaus nodded. It was more an odd jerking of his head, but he acknowledged his brother’s words and laid back down on the bed. 

  
  


Klaus woke up too many times before morning, either pushed from sleep by his usual nightmare or pulled from it by his headache. He tried to remember what Five said about the time travel headaches when he’d first gotten back from Vietnam, but all he said was that it’s a thing and not how to deal with it. Fucking great. 

Unless this was a headache from withdrawals from literally everything he was taking just a few days before. He knew from his time in rehab that the first few days, maybe a little over a week, were the absolute fucking worst, but at least at this point he’d stopped shaking and sweating as much as back in 2019. 

“We need to talk about it, Klaus,” Ben said accusingly from where he was still sitting in the chair. Couldn’t Ben stop reading his fucking mind for one fucking second and let him wallow in his own self pity. 

“Talk about what?” 

“You know what,” Ben snapped. “Don’t play fucking dumb with me.” 

Klaus sighed. “This is just a lot, Ben.” 

“You’ve gotten through most of the worst of it already,” Ben argued. 

“I’m not talking about  _ that _ ,” Klaus snapped back. Ben leaned back in the chair and pursed his lips, obviously understanding what Klaus was getting at. 

“They’re a lot?” Ben asked carefully. 

“It’s a house full of vets, Ben,” Klaus said, not needing to explain any more than that. It was loud. It hadn’t been very bad when they’d first gotten to 1960, but they’d been there a few hours now and the ghosts seemed to have picked up on his presence. 

“I think you should brave it out, Klaus,” Ben said softly. Klaus had to remind himself that just a few days before Ben had managed to punch him in the face, so he didn’t let the emotions showing on his face stop him from going easy on him. 

“Of fucking course you do,” Klaus scoffed and rolled over so he couldn’t see his brother. 

“Klaus, what you did at the theater-” 

“I have no idea what that was.” 

“Yeah, but you  _ did _ it!” Ben said. Klaus kept his eyes on the peeling paint on the bedroom wall next to the bed. “And you could probably do so much more,” Ben insisted when Klaus didn’t say anything. 

“But what if I can’t?” Klaus whispered. 

“You won’t know if you won’t try.” 

“Oh don’t start with that crappy cliche shit,” Klaus snapped. 

“Didn’t you say Dad talked about your potential?” Ben said. Klaus froze at the mention of his encounter with his dead father. “And then I punched you. And then you conjured me at the theater and  _ I _ used  _ my own _ powers to save you guys. Think about what else you could do.” 

“But-” 

“But  _ what _ , Klaus? You’re afraid?” 

“You sound like Dad!” Klaus shouted. Ben instantly shut up. Klaus still couldn’t see him, but he knew he’d gone still and his eyes had widened. 

“Don’t say that Klaus,” he said quietly. 

“Don’t sound like him,” was the only thing Klaus said in response. 

Ben sighed. “What if you could figure out to get some of them to leave you alone?” 

“And how would I do that?” 

“Stay here. Stay sober. Practice,” Ben said carefully. Klaus finally rolled over. “I really think you can do it.” Klaus sighed and closed his eyes. 

“Fine, I’ll try,” he eventually caved. Ben smiled, just a small twitch of his lips, and someone knocked on the door again. 

“Hargreeves? You up?” Jimmy’s voice came through the door. 

“Yes,” Klaus groaned. 

“We have some breakfast downstairs if you wanna eat.” 

Klaus thought for a moment before replying. “Okay, I’ll be down in a minute.” 

“Alright.” He heard footsteps walking away from his room and groaned as he rolled himself out of bed. 

“I hope they have waffles,” he muttered to himself and he looked around for the boring clothes Huey had given him the day before. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus adjusts to what seems to be his new life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit i just couldn't stop writing with this one!! usually my chapters are fairly short (about 3k-4k words) but this one ended up at 10k. hope it doesn't suck askjfsheg

Breakfast was odd. He ignored all the looks he got for the outfit he’d improvised from the jeans and plain t-shirt, he was used to odd looks by now. He sat in a chair at the table and looked at the array of dishes crammed on the surface as if the rest of the men weren’t staring at the way he’d rolled the bottom of the faded red t-shirt up into a crop top and cuffed the ends of the slightly- too- large pants. He found waffles on the table and reached to put one on his plate. When it was clear he wasn’t going to start a conversation as he poured a generous amount of syrup on his waffle, the others broke out in chatter. 

“Have y’all met Hargreeves yet?” Huey asked tensely from his spot at the table. 

“No,” someone scoffed. 

“I think I’d remember meeting someone so…  _ new, _ ” another voice said. Klaus knew that  _ new _ was not the guy’s first choice of words there, but he was impressed he didn’t say what he was sure the man was actually thinking. Klaus also knew this guy wasn’t the only one thinking it, though. The rest of them keeping their mouths shut was kind of impressive too, though. He looked up after shoving a bite of waffle into his mouth and saw them all staring at him. 

“Sorry,” he said around his food. He paused to swallow before he continued. “I can’t remember the last time I ate something.” He tilted his head to one side as he recalled the burrito he’d only gotten a few bites of before Cha-Cha showed up at the theater. The one with the cilantro he was complaining about because it had fucking cilantro on it. “Well, more than a few bites of anything.” 

A few of the guys nodded, but some of them didn’t look impressed. 

“Be careful, Klaus,” Ben said lowly. Klaus shrugged them all off and went back to his waffle. 

“I think we’ve all been there,” Huey said, but it wasn’t necessarily  _ comforting. _ The bite in the words made Klaus think it was to keep the others from saying anything else to him rather than make him feel better about his situation. He appreciated the gesture, but it wasn’t necessary. 

“Sorry I missed an introduction,” Klaus said, forgetting about the food for a moment. He looked at Ben for directions to handle the situation, but he didn’t notice. He was too busy watching the rest of the table carefully. 

“Hargreeves,” Huey said and began pointing at the guys around the table. “This is Williams, Daniels, Connor, Lewis, and Miller. They’ve all been stayin’ here and helpin’ the other guys for a while now.” 

“Hi,” Klaus said and waved with his Hello hand. The guys’ eyes followed the ink on his hand. 

“What’s that for?” one of them- Klaus was pretty sure Huey had said Miller when he pointed at him- asked and lifted his chin to gesture at his hand. 

“Oh, these?” Klaus said and held both hands up with his tattoos on display. “It’s a ouija board reference. As I said before, not my brightest moment, but I thought it was funny at the time.” 

“Why?” 

Klaus turned to Ben, who- surprisingly- just raised his eyebrows and shrugged. 

“We both know you’re gonna do it anyway,” he defended himself as if he could read Klaus’ mind and saw his shock. 

He turned back to the conversation and said, “Well, I can see dead people- ghosts, whatever you wanna call them.” He cut off a bite of his waffle with the side of his fork. “I’m the Seance. I preferred the Human Ouija Board, but when can ya do?” He stabbed the waffle bite with a little too much force and brought it to his mouth as the other man all looked at each other. 

Klaus sighed, already wishing he hadn’t said anything. He was just still rolling off the feeling of having conjured Ben at the theater. Off his siblings realizing he  _ could _ do something. Off the idea of not being the lookout on “missions” anymore. 

He thought back to his conversation with Ben the night before and was grateful he’d gone to sleep instead of trying to go get wasted like he’d wanted to. Everything had just changed on him  _ again _ so quickly, but he knew now that he had to respond differently this time. 

He looked around the table, already anticipating having to Hazel and Cha-Cha it and talk to the mens’ ghosts to prove he could see them. There were a few war casualties- assumedly lives they took- scattered around them all, but some of them had someone else watching them. Miller had a woman who was clearly his mother. Daniels had a young boy, probably eight or nine, looking up at him. A man in fatigues was standing behind Connor, but he wasn’t angry like the casualties. Klaus had seen some ghosts like that in Vietnam, and he smiled as he remembered. Friends with a close enough connection to keep them from turning completely to rage. 

Klaus smirked down at his plate and took another bite. 

“Really man?” Connor asked incredulously. “You’re gonna try that kinda bullcrap?”

“Yup,” Klaus said shortly around waffle. 

“Tell him I’m here,” the man standing behind him said. Klaus dropped the fork and glared at him. 

“Really, man?” he said. “You can’t say that without telling me  _ who you are. _ And preferably proof that it’s you because ‘there’s a guy here’ doesn’t mean shit to anyone.” 

“That’s a bad word!” the child by Daniels scolded as if personally offended by Klaus’ cussing. 

“Tell Connor that Tommy said to wash his shoes before visiting his mother.” 

Klaus turned his attention back to Connor. He held eye contact as he repeated the message. “Tommy told me to tell you to wash your shoes when you go see your mother.” 

Connor’s eyes grew wide as the color drained from his face. The rest of the men looked between Klaus and Connor, waiting for one of them to speak. 

“That’s no- not possible,” Connor said, eyes locked on Klaus. “You can’t know that, who told you that?” 

“Tommy did,” Klaus said with a shrug. “Say hi. He’s behind you.” Connor inhaled and shakily before jumping from his chair and practically running from the room. 

“Hargreeves, what the fuck is wrong with you?” Daniels hissed. “You can’t say shit like that to people.” 

Klaus opened his mouth to respond but was beat to it by the child at the man’s feet. “Those are  _ bad words _ , Daddy!” 

“Oh,” Klaus sighed and looked at Ben again. He was biting his lip and watching Daniels and the kid- apparently his son. 

“I don’t know, Klaus,” Ben said faintly, sounding defeated as his eyes didn’t leave the other two. 

“What are you lookin’ at, Hargreeves?” Daniels demanded. “Damnit what is wrong with you?” 

“Stop swearing!” Klaus couldn’t help but chuckle at the kid’s seriousness. 

“My brother died when we were teenagers,” Klaus sighed and slumped in his chair. “He’s stuck around calling me dumb ever since.” 

“Did he tell you to fuck Connor up like that?” Daniels asked. The kid stood up and got in his face this time. 

“ _ Stop swearing! _ ” 

Klaus sighed and gave in, mentally preparing for getting yelled at or getting punched in the face. “You have a kid telling you to stop saying fuck.” 

The kid spun on him. “Bad word!” 

“I’m telling him not to say it,” Klaus hissed. 

“You still said it,” the kid pouted back. Daniels’ eyes were wide and trained on Klaus much like Connor had been a moment before. Klaus ignored him and kept talking to the boy. 

“What’s your name, kid?” he asked, leaning on his forearms on the table. 

“Johnny,” the kid said with a smile, clearly happy or proud about something. Whether it was about no one swearing in the last few sentences or Klaus actually talking to him like a person, he didn’t know. 

“Johnny  _ really _ wants you to stop cursing,” Klaus said and looked back up at Daniels. He noticed Jimmy now standing in the doorway watching them, but didn’t see the point in acting any different now that he was there. He’d sleep on the streets again if he needed to, but now that he was saying all this he  _ really _ wanted someone living to take him seriously, and he had to talk about this shit in order to find anyone that would. 

Daniels slumped in his chair and Klaus was shocked to see his eyes watering and his lips trembling. “Johnny?” he asked softly. “My boy? He’s here?” Klaus nodded. “His mother used to yell at me for cussin’ around him. He saw her do it enough that he started doin’ it too,” he laughed. He looked at all the empty space around him before standing up with his eyes glazed over. “I… uh, I need to go…” He trailed off and walked away. 

The rest of the men at the table were all watching him, some in shock and some in curiosity. 

“Does anyone else have anybody here?” Miller asked softly. Klaus had been around enough suffering people to know the tone- hopeful. 

Klaus looked over Miller’s shoulder at the woman frantically waving her hands around behind him. Once he looked directly at her he realized it wasn’t random movement. She was pointing between herself and Miller and putting her hand in front of her face with her fingers spread out and her thumb on her chin.  _ Mother. _

“Your mom’s here,” Klaus said softly. Miller gasped. “She’s deaf, right?” Miller nodded quickly. “She’s repeating over and over that she’s your mom.” 

Miller looked at the ceiling above him and saluted, a single quick motion away from his forehead ( _ Hi, _ Klaus recognized) and put his hand to his chin to say mom. His mother’s face broke out into a wide grin. 

“She’s smiling,” Klaus told him. 

“Hargreeves, can I talk to ya for a second?” All heads turned toward Jimmy in the doorway. 

“Uh, yeah,” Klaus said and awkwardly stood from his seat. He took a step toward him but was stopped when Jimmy spoke again. 

“Put yer plate in the sink.” 

“Right,” Klaus said and spun to grab his plate. He set it in the soapy water as he walked passed. “Sorry.” 

“Come with me,” Jimmy said when he reached him. He turned and walked off and Klaus anxiously looked at Ben as they followed him. Ben shrugged and looked as confused as he felt. 

“Some fucking help you are,” Klaus muttered as they walked into what was clearly an office with a desk sitting in the middle of the room and bookshelves full of books, photos, and trinkets. 

“Well, you have a way of finding your way into situations I’m not exactly able to prep for,” Ben shot back. Jimmy raised an eyebrow when Klaus just hissed in response. 

“Sorry, it’s my brother,” Klaus explained and collapsed into one of the chairs on the “visiting” side of the desk. Jimmy sat down across from him before he started. 

“What the hell were you doin’ earlier?” he asked, tone surprisingly harsh. 

“Getting introduced, sharing some fun facts about myself, proving to some of the other guys I’m not a liar,” Klaus answered casually. 

“This ain’t the first day of fucking kindergarten, Hargreeves,” Jimmy said. “How in the fuck did you even know about Thomas Davis anyway?” 

“What?” Klaus asked and shook his head, already confused again. 

“Thomas Davis, Connor’s friend,” Jimmy clarified. 

“All I know is what he told me,” Klaus said. 

“They were childhood friends, both came from military families. They enlisted together. Davis didn’t make it a week,” Jimmy explained. 

“Oh,” was all Klaus could say. 

“And Daniels’ boy and Miller’s mother? How did you know about them?” 

“They were there,” Klaus said. “They told me.” Jimmy shook his head. 

“Dammit Hargreeves, you-” he cut himself off and pressed a curled fist to his lips. “You can’t just  _ do _ that.” 

“Do what?” 

“Fuck people up like that,” Jimmy said. “These people are dealing with enough.” 

“I know,” Klaus said firmly. “Trust me, Jimmy. I fucking know.” Even he could hear the severity in his tone. Fuck, in the last week he’d lost Dave, the only person he ever  _ loved _ , but then once he was getting back on track with getting to know his family again they were taken from him too. He fucking knew. 

“Then act like it,” Jimmy hissed. 

“They deserve to-” 

“To move on!” Jimmy cut him off. 

“Get closure,” Klaus finished anyway. “One last fucking conversation. One more hello, a final goodbye  _ knowing  _ what was coming.  _ Knowing _ that was it.” 

No one moved. Jimmy looked at Klaus, studying his face carefully. Klaus stared right back, stubbornly refusing to give in. Jimmy finally sighed. 

“Look, Hargreeves,” he said and shifted in his chair. “I get where you’re comin’ from, I really do, but you gotta make sure these guys want that before you go on and on about their dead friends.” 

Klaus bit his lips but didn’t say anything. He’d never been one to shy away from the heavy topic of death, for what he hoped were obvious reasons. He knew other people didn’t think of death the way he did, but he never really thought about what comes after for everyone else. The only chance he had to really understand it was Ben, and he’d been with Klaus ever since a few days after he died. The rest of the family split up before they ever finished grieving, so Klaus never saw what it was like for them. 

“I know what you’re thinking you’re doing,” Jimmy continued with another sigh. “I saw you and Miller. That was a good thing you did for him. But not everyone wants that. Connor didn’t want that. You should have seen him after you said that, I haven’t seen him that bad in years.” 

Klaus bit his lips and looked down at his hands. He wasn’t even sure why. He hadn’t felt anything like this since he was a child listening to his father raving about his failings. 

“Now, I’ve got another question for ya,” Jimmy said. Klaus looked up at him again to see his face had softened. “If you can see dead people,” he started and Klaus nodded. “How in the fuck did you seeve  _ anywhere _ without losing your mind?” 

Klaus snorted in an attempt at a laugh. “You know how I said I had a problem with alcohol?” Jimmy nodded. “I found out when I was a teenager when I was drunk or high out of my mind I couldn’t see them or hear them anymore,” he finished. 

“You said last night you were a few days sober,” Jimmy said. Klaus nodded again. 

“I lost someone not long ago,” Klaus said softly. “I’ve been trying to find him, but I couldn’t. Figured I’d have to get sober if I really wanted to see him again.” 

“So you were trying to give the guys what you couldn’t get yourself.” 

Klaus was really just being a dumb asshole, but sure, he’ll take that too. 

“Yeah, I guess,” he said. Ben snorted in the corner of the room. Klaus turned his head on his neck and spit, “Shut up,” over his shoulder. He turned back to Jimmy, who was staring at him again. 

“You know,” he said. “I know some people who would be interested in that.” 

“I’m sorry, what?” Klaus asked, thrown off by the sudden change. 

“I’ve always believed people should find what they’re good at and make it their work,” Jimmy said vaguely.  _ Literally nothing is ever that simple but okay, _ Klaus thought as the other man continued. “Lots of vets have trouble working civilian jobs and adjusting back to the lifestyle. Doing something with that would be a way for you to maintain control while still living your life.” 

Klaus furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at Jimmy, waiting for the punchline. When it didn’t come he looked back at Ben to make sure he wasn’t misunderstanding. He was looking between the two of them, and when he saw Klaus waiting for him he tilted his head and shrugged in a  _ that’s not half bad _ gesture.

“It’s not a terrible idea,” he said. Klaus spun back to Jimmy. 

“I’m sorry, are you suggesting I make talking to ghosts my  _ job? _ ” he asked incredulously. 

“Why not?” Jimmy countered easily. 

“Because until a few days ago I spent years shoving this away,” Klaus said. 

“Having something good to do with it might make it easier to stay sober,” Jimmy said. Klaus floundered. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water trying to come up with something else. Anything else. “Besides, you don’t exactly seem like the kinda guy who can go out and get a retail job,” Jimmy added. 

“He’s riiiight,” Ben sang from where he was still standing. Klaus didn’t say anything. 

Jimmy leaned forward on the desk. “So if I told some guys what you can do, would you agree to do it for a charge?” 

“Yes,” Ben said, suddenly behind him slapping Klaus’ shoulder. “Klaus, say yes.” 

Klaus nodded slowly. “Yeah, I guess I could do that.” 

He left the office and walked back to his room without realizing that he was. He was, for once, lost in his own thoughts. He’d have to figure out how to summon certain ghosts. He’d have to figure out how to make them visible. Well, he thought, maybe he wouldn’t have to do that. He hadn’t told anyone he might be able to do that. 

“I think this is a good thing,” Ben said when they got back to the room. Klaus sat on the bed and looked at him. 

“Really?” 

“Yeah,” Ben said with a smile. “I think you can do this.” 

Klaus exhaled and closed his eyes. “I can’t try to do this the way Dad did,” he said. 

“Of fucking course not,” Ben said. “You just have to… I don’t know, focus. How did you make me corporeal at the theater?” 

“Panic,” Klaus said without thinking. Ben tilted his head and his eyebrows furrowed. 

“What do you mean?” he asked. 

“I don’t know, I just… did it. I thought about how I needed to do something then you were there,” Klaus said. Ben opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off by somebody knocking on the door. “Yeah?” Klaus called to whoever was there. The door slowly opened and Daniels poked his head through the door. 

“Can I come in? Talk for a second?” he asked. Klaus nodded silently. Daniels walked in and made his way to the desk chair. 

“Can I help you?” Klaus eventually asked when Daniels didn’t say anything else. 

“Yeah, ummm,” Daniels mumbled. “Sorry, I’m trying to figure out how to say this.” Klaus looked at Ben, but he was once again no help. Klaus wondered why he bothered sticking around when Daniels finally found a way to word what he wanted. “Was… was my boy really here?” he asked. 

“Yeah, he was,” Klaus said with a nod. 

“Is he still here?” Klaus looked around the room. Ben, man with a whole in his chest, woman with a slit throat, man with blood flowing down his face. No Johnny. 

“No, he’s not here right now,” he said. Daniels’ face fell a bit, and Klaus added. “Trust me, it’s better he’s not. We got some gory deaths in here with us.” 

“Oh,” Daniels said, his eyes going wide. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize-” 

“No, trust me,” Klaus said and waved the comment off. “No one does.” 

“Do you always see ones like that?” Daniels asked. 

“Always.” 

“Even…” He trailed off, but Klaus still knew what he was asking. The same thing Jimmy did just a few minutes before. 

“Yeah,” he said sadly. “Even then.”

Daniels bit his lips and nodded faintly. “Sorry to bother you man,” he said after a moment and stood up. As he turned toward the door, Klaus stopped him. 

“I’ll let you know when he’s around,” he said softly. Daniels nodded again then walked out the door. 

“You should have charged him,” Ben joked. 

“Shit,” Klaus laughed. “You’re right.” He layed back down on the bed and groaned. What had he gotten himself into? 

He started his own kind of training the next day. He started small, sending Ben to the hallway and trying to force him back into the room. It took a few tries to begin to get the smallest clue how it worked. 

Ben came flying through the closed door so he was standing right in front of where Klaus was sitting on the bed with his eyes closed and his legs crossed and his hands on his knees like some kind of stereotypical movie psychic. 

“Holy shit,” Ben said. Klaus opened his eyes when his brother’s voice came from only inches away. His mouth fell open when he saw him standing so close. 

“Holy shit,” he repeated. “I did it!” He threw a fist in the air before his face fell again. “How did I do it?” 

“I don’t know,” Ben said, though his voice was full of excitement. His face was as well, looking down between his body and Klaus. “But you did it.” 

Klaus clambered off the bed, a wild tangle of limbs, and he almost fell back over once he was on his feet from trying to move too fast. “How did I do that?” he asked again then spun on Ben and pointed a finger at him. “How did that feel? Did it feel like it did at the theater?” 

“No,” Ben said in a rush and took a step toward Klaus, eyes wide as he spoke. “No, this was like a pulling thing, like you pulled me by my shirt or something, but you were pulling something  _ inside _ me.” 

“Oh my god, what the fuck,” Klaus said. “Here, here, hold on, let’s try again. Go back to the hallway and I’ll try to do it again.” 

“Okay,” Ben said and did as he was told. Klaus sat back down and tried to focus on what he had done before. 

For a while nothing happened. He just sat there like an idiot. Finally, he stood up and let out a deep breath, shaking his nervous energy out of his hands. He could do this. He’d just done it. He just needed to focus on Ben. Ben. Bringing Ben back here. 

He sat back down on the bed in the same position as before and closed his eyes. He inhaled a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and slowly let it out.  _ Ben. _

Then he felt something. A tension or tightening in his chest. It only lasted for a second, but when it was gone Ben was standing in front of him again. 

Their mouths both fell open and they pointed at each other in silent excitement. They started moving and jumping around in childish excitement. 

“Holy fucking shit, I fucking did it again,” Klaus finally hissed. 

“You fuckin’ did it man,” Ben responded. 

“Yeaaaah!” Klaus shouted and jumped up and down. They spent the next few seconds celebrating until someone knocked on the door. 

“Hargreeves, what the fuck are you doin’?” Huey asked. 

“Celebrating!” Klaus yelled back. 

“Celebrating what?”

“I got a specific ghost to come  _ to me _ ,” Klaus called. 

“Is that new?” he asked a moment later. 

“Hell yeah that’s new,” Klaus said and started jumping again. 

“Hey,” Huey said through the door again. “That’s great but you’re disturbin’ the guys down stairs.” 

“Shit, sorry!” Klaus said and changed from jumping on the floor to waving his arms around. 

“Hey, hey, hey,” Ben said, grabbing Klaus’ attention. “Try to get the kid- ya know, what’s-his-name’s kid. Johnny.” 

“Oh, yeah, Daniels,” Klaus said and sat back down. He focused on Daniels and his son. The way the kid was so obsessed with people swearing. The way Daniels wanted to know if his son was still there. The way the kid sat with his dad at breakfast. The tension in his chest came back. It tightened a little bit before it snapped and disappeared. 

He heard Ben gasp next to him and opened his eyes. 

“Holy shit, I did it  _ again, _ ” Klaus said when he saw Johnny in the doorway. 

“Don’t say ‘shit,’” Johnny said. Klaus furrowed his eyebrows and shifted back in slight offense. 

“ _ You _ don’t say ‘shit,’” he shot back. 

“Don’t fight the kid, Klaus,” Ben said flatly, half joking and half serious. “Just focus on how you did it.” 

“Right,” he said and shook his head a little. 

He fucking did it. 

It was a few days later before he started talking to people about communication with the dead. He still hadn’t made anyone visible yet, but he was able to serve as a kind of translator. 

“So who exactly am I looking for?” Klaus asked the man sitting across the table from him. 

The man was a friend of Jimmy’s, he’d introduced him as Sam, one of the people he’d told about Klaus and his powers. Well, Klaus knew he didn’t use the words  _ powers, _ but still. The point was the same no matter what word you used. 

“My wife, Jeanie,” Sam said. “She passed away a few months ago.” 

“Was it sudden?” Klaus asked and pulled his feet up onto the chair. Sam nodded as Klaus crossed his legs on the seat. “Unexpected?” Sam nodded again. “Okay,” Klaus said. “That should make things a bit easier. The ones who aren’t really expecting it tend to stick around a bit longer. They’re not really sure what else to do.” They’re usually the loud or violent ones, Klaus didn’t say. 

“Okay,” Same said awkwardly and nodded. He obviously didn’t know what to do until all this started, but neither did Klaus so he didn’t really care. 

“So, tell me a little bit about her,” Klaus said. Sam gave him a look that didn’t look convinced, so he continued. “I need some sort of connection with her. Looking around, she isn’t here now, so I need to have something to focus on to find her.” 

“I thought you said she would probably stick around,” Sam said. 

Klaus sighed. “Yeah, I did.” He waved his arms as he tried to explain exactly how the whole afterlife/ life after death thing worked. Which was hard enough to understand, much less try to articulate. “So, from what I understand, there is something  _ after. _ The whole walk into the light thing is real, apparently, but I don’t know what comes after that,” he explained, desperately wishing Ben were here to help him figure out how to word this. “People who die suddenly or unexpectedly usually don’t go into the light for a while, but where they do go on the planet is kinda tricky. So I need a way to find them if they’re here.” 

“Like what?” Sam asked, expression unsure and slightly scared. 

“Well, my brother died when we were teenagers, so when I’m trying to find him I think about dumb stuff we used to do as kids or the way he calls me dumb whenever he’s around,” Klaus said. “One guy up here had a son who died young, so when I’m looking for him I think about the way he yells at everybody around him to stop swearing. I just need something personal that I can use to track them down, kind of.” 

Sam nodded as if he understood what the fuck Klaus was saying, which Klaus highly doubted his did but as long as he cooperated and gave Klaus what he needed he didn’t really care. 

“She would always forget to take her medication,” Sam said with a laugh. “She was diabetic, trying all these new medications they were comin’ out with, tryin’ to get something that works, ya know?” Klaus nodded as Sam told his story. “So she kept trying to find ways to remind herself to take ‘em. We had these papers taped and nailed into the walls all over the house. They never worked more than a few days ‘cause she would get used to ‘em bein’ there. She had to switch the time she took ‘em and put notes on all the dinner plates so she would take ‘em when we ate dinner.” 

“That should work,” Klaus said. Sam looked up at him, surprised as if he’d forgotten Klaus was there. Klaus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He pictured a pair of hands pulling plates from a cupboard and looking down at them and seeing a note on top of them. “Take your medications, you forgetful lady!” Laughter in the background. A tightening in his chest. Snapping. 

“Oh, hello dear,” came the voice of an upbeat woman. Her tone didn’t match her appearance, though. Klaus figured that out as soon as he looked up at her. He couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped his lips.

There was a large cut along her hairline and blood flowing down her face. Her patterned dress that fell to her ankles was splattered with blood, and part of her chest was caved in. Her expression was more in line with her tone than her appearance though, but her smile looked… wrong. Like one of Grace’s she would give each of them as kids as she set their breakfast plates on the table in front of them. 

A voice in his head that he’d managed to push to the back started screaming again.  _ NUMB. NUMB. STOP THIS. _ His fingers itched to find a hit. His mouth went dry and Klaus knew the only thing that would fix it was to grab a bottle and chug. 

But he couldn’t. He had to find it in himself to not do it. Someone would make sure he didn’t, whether it was himself, one of the guys, or Ben he  _ knew _ he wouldn’t be able to get anything. Looking at the ghost in front of him he wasn’t sure if he was grateful or not. 

“Jeanie?” Klaus asked. He wished his voice wasn’t shaking as much as it was. The woman looked up at him and her smile fell a bit. 

“Yes,” she said. “And who are you?” 

“My name is Klaus,” he answered, not sure how else to start this. 

“Is it her? Is she here?” Sam asked, eyes wide in desperation. Klaus nodded without taking his eyes off of her. 

“Why can’t he see me?” Jeanie asked cheerfully. 

“Jeanie, do you know what happened?” Klaus asked her. 

“I was going to the grocery,” she said slowly, trying to recall her last memories. “I needed salt for dinner and I didn’t realize we didn’t have any. I got in the car, and…” She trailed off and looked at her shoes. “I don’t know. Why can’t Sammy see me?” 

“Jeanie, I…” God, Klaus wasn’t expecting this. He made a mental note to ask clients how their loved one died. He really needed to be prepared for this next time. 

She looked down at herself, and judging by her reaction it was probably the first time she did so since she died, because her eyes widened and she sucked in a shaky- unnecessary- breath. “Oh my,” she said faintly. “I think I’m beginning to understand now.” 

“You’re handling it better than most,” Klaus said with a light laugh, not sure what else to do. 

“What? Handling what?” Sam asked desperately. 

“She didn’t realize she was…” Klaus trailed off. 

“Oh,” Sam said. 

“Oh, I sure am, aren’t I?” Jeanie asked at the same time. 

“Yeah, and Sam wanted to talk to you again,” Klaus said. 

Jeanie looked up at him in surprise. “How?” 

“Well, as we can see here,” Klaus said with a small, panicked giggle he couldn’t quite hold back. “That’s what I’m here for. I can tell him anything you want him to know.” 

“Oh,” Jeanie said with a sad smile. “I think he’s more prepared for this than I am.” 

“Yeah, me too,” Klaus said and turned to Sam. “What do you want to say?” 

“Um, I don’t… How do I do this?” he asked. “Do I talk to you or…?” 

“Just talk directly to her,” Klaus decided quickly. “I’ll give you anything she says back.” 

“Okay,” Sam said and looked around the room a little before settling on the seat next to him to look at while addressing his wife. “Hi, honey. I miss you. I know you just found out what happened so you might not say the same thing, but I miss you.”

“I’m sorry dear,” Jeanie said and moved so Sam was looking at her as he spoke. 

“She says she’s sorry,” Klaus said. 

Sam laughed lightly before he continued. “I wanted to let you know that it finally happened. William finally asked Sarah to marry him. They’re planning the wedding now. She’s sad you aren’t there to be a part of it.” 

“Tell her she has to invite her cousins on her dad’s side but  _ cannot _ let them sit near her cousins on our side. Remember the bar-be-que of fifty-six,” she said sternly. 

Klaus laughed a little. “Oh, family drama. I know it well.” Jeanie laughed too as Klaus repeated what she’d said. “She said she has to invite cousins from both sides but don’t let the ones from her dad’s side sit near the ones from your side.” He furrowed his eyebrows and looked between them. “I’m assuming your side is the mom’s side, yeah?” 

“Yeah,” Jeanie said. “Don’t forget to mention the bar-be-que.” 

“Right, sorry,” Klaus said and turned back to Sam. “On the topic of the cousins she said to remember the bar-be-que of, wait what was it? Fifty-five? Fifty-six?” He turned back to Jeanie as he asked. 

“Oh, dear the bar-be-que of fifty-six,” Sam groaned and leaned forward pulling his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. 

“Yeah,” Klaus said. “That.” 

“Oh, that was terrible,” he added. 

Suddenly Klaus felt off. The tension was coming back. He didn’t know why. Was he accidentally calling someone else? Was he losing his connection with her? 

He looked up at them and could tell Jeanie felt off too. Her face was pinched up in discomfort and she was flickering in and out like bad TV service. 

“Sam, I don’t want to hurry you but I don’t know how much longer I can keep her around here,” Klaus said. Sam looked confused for a second before his face cleared and he turned back to the space he’d been talking to. 

“Right, sorry,” he said and took a deep breath to steady himself before saying his goodbye. “I’m sorry, honey. I really do miss you so much. My life with you was incredible and I’m glad I got to experience it. I wasn’t sure about coming here today, but I wanted to tell you about Sarah and William and the wedding. I also wanted to get one last goodbye while I knew you were here to hear it. I love you so much and I miss you even more.” 

“I love you too, honey,” she said to Sam then turned to Klaus. “Thank you for this.” And then she was gone. 

The tension in Klaus’ chest broke and he heaved out a breath he hadn’t realized he’s been holding and hunched in on himself like a puppet whose strings had been cut. 

“Woah, are you alright, son?” Sam asked and leaned forward to reach out for Klaus. Klaus panted for a moment before he nodded. 

“Yeah, sorry,” he said. “I didn’t realize how much that was going to take out of me.” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-” Sam started but Klaus waved him off. 

“No, it’s fine,” he said. “I didn’t know my own limit. If there’s one thing... the years of drugs taught me... it’s to know my own limits.” He pushed the last sentence out between heavy breaths. 

“Right,” Sam said tensely and leaned away again. Shit, he shouldn’t have mentioned the drugs. 

“She said,” Klaus inhaled sharply again, finally getting a hold of himself. “Before I lost her, she said she loves you too.” 

Sam pursed his lips and looked down at the table. “Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for this.” Klaus just nodded. 

Sam slowly stood up. “I think I’d best be goin’,” he said and Klaus nodded. Before he turned to leave, Sam set a few bills on the table and thanked him again. 

“No problem,” Klaus said. “Don’t forget to keep the cousins separate!” he called after him. 

Klaus stayed at the table long after Sam had gone. He sat there with his face pressed to the cool wood surface and didn’t even think about the money Sam left sitting just a few seats away. 

It was the next morning before Klaus could really do anything again. Ben had been worried when he found Klaus half passed out on the table, but was relieved to find out it wasn’t because of a relapse, which Klaus had been slightly offended he’d even considered an option. 

Late in the morning Klaus finally made his way downstairs. He passed a few other guys in the hallways but didn’t say anything to them. He was thirsty, and he was hoping it was the kind water could quench. 

He walked into what looked like some kind of meeting between a few of the guys. He looked around the kitchen table, which was covered in newspapers and surprisingly official looking paperwork. Huey and Jimmy were there, because theory both seemed to be at everything happening in the shelter. Miller was there too, sitting across the table from a guy named Simmons and another guy Klaus hadn’t been introduced to yet. 

“What are you guys doing down here?” Klaus asked, eyeing the papers on the table. The group eyes each other warily, obviously unsure whether to tell him the truth. “Oh come on,” Klaus said lightly. “We’ve all done some shady shit. I won’t turn anybody in for anything.” Huey sighed and leaned back in his seat. 

“What you went through when you served…” he started slowly. “What do you think about all of it?” 

“Isn’t ‘war is hell’ a pretty common phrase?” Klaus asked and looked around at the men. 

“Exactly,” Huey said, looking at him expectantly. Klaus shifted and put his hands on his hips. 

“What are you getting at?” he asked. 

“Some guys don’t like the idea,” Jimmy said. “Think we’re pansies who couldn’t handle the shit.” 

“What are you talkin’ about, man?” Klaus asked. 

“We’re helping some groups across the country organize protests and get movement going for the anti-war crowd,” he said quickly and firmly. “Especially as folks look at Vietnam more and more.”

_ Oh. _

Klaus crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the doorframe. He knew the chances of changing anything were small. His own, single presence wouldn’t stop the war from happening, but… 

“No one should have to go through what I went through,” he said. He knew all the lives that would be lost in Vietnam. And anywhere else for the next half century. He thought about the draft, the uselessness of it all, the bullshit reason they were in there in the first place. The chance to save Dave before he even knew what he was being saved from. He put one hand on the dog tags still around his neck. 

He shoved off the doorframe and walked back over to the table. 

“So, how are you doing this?” he asked as he slid into the seat next to Miller. 

“So, the whole thing doesn’t have much momentum right now,” Simmons said. 

“Okay,” Klaus said and nodded in understanding. “So right now the main thing we’re doing is getting in contact with the guys we served with who might be on our side of this.” 

“Oh,” Klaus said and let his shoulders slump. 

“What?” Miller asked. 

“Nothing, I just don’t think I could contact anyone I served with,” Klaus said, repeating  _ please don’t ask why _ in his head like a prayer. 

“That’s not too surprising,” Miller said. “Not many would take too kindly to it.” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said. 

“Oh, Hargreeves,” Jimmy said suddenly and sat up in his seat. “I got another guy wanting to come in, think you’ll be up for it?” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said, with a nod. “I’ll make sure my brother is there or something, but I should be good now that I’m figuring out where my limit is.” 

“Okay, but I don’t wan’cha hurtin’ yourself or anything.” 

“No, no, I’ll be good,” Klaus said, though he wasn’t sure he would be. “Do you know who he’s lookin’ for and why?” 

“‘Ts a guy coming in lookin’ for his dad,” Jimmy said and shifted in his seat. “He’s bringin’ his nephew, they both wanna talk to him. Not sure why.” 

“Okay,” Klaus nodded again. “And I figured out last time that I need to ask so do you know how the dad died?” 

“Think it was heart prob’ems, why?” Jimmy said, already getting distracted by the papers on the table again. 

“Because I didn’t ask last time,” Klaus said softly. He fiddled his fingers in his lap. The itch to reach for a bottle or a joint came back as he thought about Jeanie’s body when he first saw her. “Car accident,” he added quietly. “Wasn’t expecting it when she showed up.” 

“Shit, I’m sorry Hargreeves,” Jimmy said and looked back up. “I should’a warned ya.” 

“I didn’t even think about it,” Klaus muttered to the table. 

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that this time,” Jimmy said. 

“Yeah, I just need to remember to ask before I try to find them from now on,” Klaus said. 

“Yeah, that’s a good idea, you dumbass,” Ben said. Klaus jumped in his seat. He hadn’t seen his brother in the corner of the room until he spoke. 

“Shut up, Ben,” he said and turned back to the table. 

“Your brother?” Huey asked. Klaus nodded. “Call you dumb?” he guessed. 

“Dumb _ ass _ , actually,” Klaus corrected. 

“He’s right,” Jimmy teased. Klaus rolled his eyes. 

“What are you even doing anyway?” Ben asked and walked over so he was standing next to Klaus. “Oh,” he said quietly when he looked at the papers. “Be careful with all this, Klaus.” 

“Why?” Klaus asked and looked at his brother. 

“Do you remember when Five was talking about his quote- unquote  _ former employer _ ?” Ben asked. 

Klaus nodded. “Yeah, why?” 

“He said they preserve the time line- keep it intact,” Ben said. “This stuff isn’t really supposed to get rolling yet.” 

“Yet?” Klaus asked. He really wished he’d spent more time paying attention during history lessons with Pogo instead of thinking of ways to get high before training with his father. 

“The US becomes really involved in Vietnam after the Gulf of Tonkin,” Ben started to explain. “This is around sixty-four or sixty-five. The anti-war movement picks up around the same time, mostly at colleges and stuff. Things don’t get heavy ‘till about 1970.” 

“So, what does that have to do with…” Klaus widened his eyes a little bit and looked down at his hands, which he waved around a little bit to gesture what they’d just been talking about. He didn’t think mentioning preserving the timeline with time travelling assassins well versed in torture would be something he wanted to say in front of the war vets in the early 1960’s. 

“You can’t speed anything up,” Ben said. “If you change the timeline they’ll find you and send more of those guys after you.” 

“Shit,” Klaus said. His heart began pounding in his chest at the mere thought of more of the assassins coming after him. But if he didn’t try, all the people in Vietnam, on both sides of the war,  _ Dave _ , would still die. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said softly. 

“Klaus,” Ben said softly. “You cannot actually be considering this.” 

“Shut up, Ben,” he said again, faintly this time. Ben shook his head and sighed. 

“What’s he sayin’?” Jimmy asked. 

“Nothing important,” Klaus said. The others looked skeptical, but didn’t say anything else about it. 

They all went back to the papers. 

Klaus had his next appointment the day after his first anti-war meeting. He was feeling surprisingly good. He didn’t know exactly why. Maybe it was because he was consistently doing something that wasn’t drugs. He’d ended up spending the last few days before the apocalypse trying to find Dave and running around with his siblings, so maybe he just needed to keep rolling with that energy and he would have a problem with the temptation to relapse anymore. 

“Hey, Hargreeves,” Huey said when Klaus stepped out of his room the next afternoon. “Your guys just got here. They’re waitin’ downstairs.”

“Cool, what are their names again? Do you know?” he asked absentmindedly as he grabbed the doorknob. 

“Brian an’ Dave. Why?” 

Klaus froze as he closed the door shut behind him. There was no way. His hand shook on the doorknob. No, no, no. Dave’s uncle’s name was  _ Ryan _ not  _ Brian. _ Besides, he didn’t know which one was the uncle and which one was the nephew. It was just a coincidence. It wasn’t his Dave, it couldn’t be, he told himself as he tensley walked down the stairs. He took one last deep breath as he rounded the corner into the kitchen. 

And there he was. It was Dave sitting at the kitchen table, a few years younger but it was  _ him. _ The same eyes in the same face, the biggest difference was the slighter softness of his jawline. He looked  _ better _ overall though, fuller. He remembered how he and the rest of the squad looked in Vietnam, even himself the few times he caught a look at his own reflection. Maybe the fullness was just from  _ not _ being at war. 

The older man pacing around behind him, who was apparently his Uncle  _ Brian, _ was whispering harshly behind him. “You’ll see,” he hissed. “We’ll talk to him and you’ll see how ridiculous you sound.” 

“But Uncle Brian, I-” Dave started. Klaus gasped at the sound of his voice. For all the time he’d spent wishing to hear that voice again he wasn’t really prepared to. Dave stopped talking and turned away from his uncle when they heard Klaus. They both looked right at him. 

Klaus was suddenly very aware of how he looked. He’d been in the sixties for a few weeks now, long enough for his hair to grow out a little so it was an awkward length around his ears. He’d used some of the money Sam had left to get some better clothes and was surprisingly pleased with how much he was able to get with it. He had on dark blue pants he found that flared out around his ankles, which he had to admit he didn’t hate and were coming up in the fashion of the time. The loose, striped shirt he had on clearly had a few too many buttons undone for Uncle Brian’s taste. Though, the same couldn’t be said about Dave, whose eyes were very clearly looking Klaus up and down which… Klaus wasn’t exactly expecting. His eyes stopped on his chest and it took Klaus a moment to realize the dog tags were on full display.  _ Dave’s _ dog tags. 

Klaus reached up and fastened a few more buttons as he finally stepped all the way into the room. 

“Sorry,” he said. “Wasn’t quite ready when my friend told me you were here.” 

“We’re a few minutes late,” Brian said, unimpressed. Something in his gaze told Klaus he knew he wasn’t buttoning his shirt up out of modesty. 

“I like to make an entrance,” Klaus shot back with an obviously fake smile. “Who are we lookin’ for today?” He quickly changed the topic. 

“My father,” Brian said. “We need to talk to him.” 

“Alright-y,” Klaus said and gave them both a smile. Dave smiled back but Brian pressed his lips into a thin line and kept glaring at Klaus. “Can I uhhh…” He tried to think about what he needed to ask them, but Dave was still smiling at him and  _ god he missed this _ . His heart was pounding in his chest as Dave looked at him. It was like his first night in Vietnam all over again, but he knew how that ended and he refused to let it happen again. 

“Can you what?” Brian snapped. Klaus blinked as he was pulled out of his thoughts. He was already beginning to lose his patience with him. 

“I’ll need to ask you guys a few questions to be able to find him,” Klaus said and took the last few steps toward the table. 

“Like what?” Dave asked softly. 

Klaus looked back at him and said, “First I need a name, then I’ll need, like, a personal story or an inside joke or something to form a connection so I can find him and bring him here.” 

“Sounds like bullshit to me,” Brian said. 

“Then why are you here?” Klaus snapped. 

“To talk to my father, but I didn’t realize I’d have to tell my life story to do it,” Brian said. 

“Listen, I have to have a connection to the person to find them, and since I didn’t know him the best chance is through one of your connections with him,” Klaus explained slowly as if he were talking to a child. 

“And once you get that, you  _ can _ find him?” Dave asked, eyes wide and awed. 

“Well,” Klaus sighed and let his shoulders slump a little bit. Uncle Brian’s jaw tensed and Klaus quickly began explaining like he had to Sam. “It’s complicated, okay? There is some kind of after life, okay? I don’t know what it is because I can’t find people who went there, but lots of people don’t go. All that  _ unfinished business _ bullshit actually holds some truth. A lot of people who die suddenly or violently don’t go, most of them don’t even realize they’re dead.” He looked frantically between Dave and his uncle hoping at least one of them understood where he was coming from. 

“But he didn’t die violently or suddenly,” Brian said. 

“There’s still a chance he’s still here,” Klaus explained. “Especially since you two are here trying to talk to him.” 

“Why is that?” Brian demanded. 

“Is there a reason you wanna talk to him?” Klaus asked. This would be a lot easier is he wasn’t talking in hypotheticals and could directly explain how it helps. 

“We’ve been a military family for a while now, but  _ David _ here can’t be convinced to sign up just yet,” Brian said pointedly. Dave rolled his eyes. “I need my dad, his grandfather, to do some convincing.” 

Oh. Okay, so this was part of it. He had the chance right now to change the main thing he wanted to. But Dave hadn’t signed up; he was drafted. Klaus  _ knew _ that. Dave told him so himself. 

Klaus realized with a chill and a jolt of horror that Dave probably never talked to his long dead grandfather to get his opinion on enlisting the first time around. 

Fuck. 

“Okay, so,” Klaus said shakily, trying to think of how that related to the possibility of Dave’s grandfather still being around without throwing up. “There’s a chance- a pretty good chance, really- that, since you’re a military family, he’ll be sticking around to make sure everyone goes or to keep up with the family since, ya know, war zones are infamously kinda dangerous.” 

“Exactly!” Dave said pointedly and gestured to Klaus and looked at his uncle as if Klaus was backing up his argument without him knowing it. 

“Be quiet, David,” Brian said and turned back to Klaus. “Just get him here and we can all talk about it like grown ups.” Klaus wasn’t sure if his snarky comment was about him or Dave or both of them, but it didn’t really matter. 

“Okay!” Klaus said with a clap of his hands and false cheer in his tone. He held his hands out welcomingly and smiled. “A story, then.” 

Brian rolled his eyes as Dave leaned forward, pulling his weight on his elbows on the table. “So, when I was little, Grandpa lived out on Galveston Island- his name is Thomas, by the way- so visiting him was like a  _ huge _ trip we had to plan like once a year, right?” Klaus nodded along to show he understood, trying to hold back the smile fighting to spread across his face. He knew this story already. It was one of Dave’s favorite stories from when he was a kid. “So we’d drive down, it felt like we spent entire days in the car when it was really just a few hours. We’d stay for like a week, going to Galveston beach one day and driving off the island to go to a different beach another day- I think they call it Surfside now or something. But we’d also go on tours of all the different houses on the island and go shopping in the tourist places and learn about the big hurricane and stuff.” 

“Get to the story, David,” Brian said, sounding bored. 

Klaus glared up at him. “I need a good connection.” He looked back at Dave, suddenly aching to hear every detail of the story again. 

Dave gave Klaus a small smile before he continued. “So we went fishing with some of his friends one day, and we got there like mid-afternoon and his friends had been there  _ all day _ and they hadn’t caught anything. So I go out there with my crappy kids’ fishing pole I had because we didn’t get to visit very often so they didn’t wanna spend  _ real _ money on a rod for me, and my first cast I throw the line out like a kid who has no real idea what he’s doing and almost  _ immediately _ something takes a bite of my bait.” Dave laughed and Klaus chuckled a little bit as he finished. “And his friends were so mad I went out and caught something so fast when they’d been there all day and gotten nothing that they literally packed up and went home. Grandpa told ‘em as they were leaving, ‘It’s not young Dave’s fault he’s a natural.’ I was  _ so _ proud to be a natural at something,” Dave finished with a laugh. 

By the time he finished the story his grandfather was standing next to his uncle. 

“I remember that,” he said. “Those guys talked about that for  _ years.” _

“Hello,” Klaus said with a small wave in his direction. He didn’t say anything about finally having a chance to talk to Grandpa Thomas. 

“Hi,” he replied. “Funny tattoo.” 

“Oh, yeah,” Klaus said and laughed lightly. “I was really drunk and thought it would be funny given the whole… thing,” he finished, waving a hand between the two of them. 

“Oh, it’s hilarious,” Dave said, obviously picking up on the joke. 

“Is that him? Is he here?” Brian interrupted harshly. Dave glared back at his uncle again. 

“Yeah, he’s here,” Klaus said, looking around the group. “Just talk directly to him and I’ll tell you what he says.” 

“Hey Grandpa!” Dave said loudly, although it obviously wasn’t really a greeting but a set up. “Uncle Brian’s tryin’ to force me into enlisting even though the rest of the family enlisting tradition has been completely voluntary and not out of a sense of obligation, what do you think?” He said all of this quickly, as if trying to make his case before his uncle started talking. Thomas looked between the two slightly horrified. 

“The kids gotta be old enough by now to be able to decide for himself,” he said. “If he doesn’t want to I don’t see why Brian should insist on it.” Relief flooded Klaus’ system, happy to say Dave’s grandfather, who he looked up to, didn’t think he should jump into the military. 

“Great,” Klaus said sarcastically. “Can’t wait to deliver that message.” 

“Why, what did he say?” Dave asked. 

“Well,” Klaus said, honestly elated to give Dave another reason not to enlist but doing his best to hide it. “He said you’re old enough to make up your own mind and shouldn’t be pushed into it if you don’t want to.” 

“Bullshit,” Brian hissed. “He wanted everyone in the family to sign up if they could. It was a matter of honor and doing what’s right.” 

“Well, forgive me if death changed my view of things,” Thomas said. 

“He said death changed his views,” Klaus said. Dave shot his uncle another pointed look. 

“Ghosts see a lot more than the living,” Thomas continued. 

“The dead see a lot more than the living do,” Klaus repeated. 

“What does that mean?” Brian asked, getting more and more irritated with every message Klaus delivered. 

“I’ve seen the real reasons for some of these things,” Thomas elaborated. “They aren’t really about honor.” 

“He says he’s seen the real reasons behind some military actions since he died and they aren’t anyone’s honor,” Klaus said. 

Brian huffed and turned to storm out of the room. “Whatever,” he spat as he left. 

“Really, Brian?” Thomas asked his son’s retreating back.

“Uncle Brian!” Dave called after him. “You gotta pay- dammit he’s gone, sorry.” He patted his pockets frantically in his seat. “Shit he said he’d cover it since he insisted. I thought we’d be going home right after so I didn’t bring my wallet or any money.  _ Shit! _ ” Dave shot Klaus an apologetic expression as he stood up quickly. “I can come back with some money to pay you, you did what we asked it isn’t fair-” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Klaus waved his concerns off and shook his head, though he really wasn’t sure why. He guessed he didn’t want to see Dave upset about anything, especially since this would probably be the last time he ever saw him, he’d rather see him leave with a happy expression. “Things didn’t go the way he wanted, I’d probably do the same thing- if I had any intention of paying at all.” 

“But it isn-” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Klaus insisted again. He stood up and walked so he was standing next to Dave so he didn’t have to put As much energy into being heard. Keeping Thomas there was starting to wear him out. “You got your way, just be happy about that.” 

A small smile krept over Dave’s lips. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he said and looked around the room. “Is he still here, by any chance?” 

“Yeah, he’s still here, but I’m not sure for how long,” Klaus said and gave him an apologetic look. “I can only keep them here for so long right now.” 

“Yeah, no don’t worry about that,” Dave said and turned back to the open space. Thomas took a few steps so he was facing Dave as he spoke again. “Bye Grandpa. I miss you.” 

“I miss you too, Davey,” Thomas said with a bittersweet smile. 

“He misses you too,” Klaus said. Dave smiled at him as he grandfather disappeared. 

“Again, I’m really sorry, he just-” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Klaus said firmly and reached out and patted Dave’s arm before he could think better of it. It was quick, Klaus pulled his hand back almost as soon as he touched him, but he’d still done it. He looked away awkwardly, but Dave didn’t say anything about it. 

“Thank you again,” Dave said earnestly. Klaus looked back at him quickly and nodded. Dave did the same and stepped out of the kitchen. Klaus didn’t follow him. 

He stood there for a moment, which eventually stretched into two and three, and barely noticed when Ben appeared beside him. 

“Who was that?” Ben asked, leaning against the table beside Klaus. “Was he your appointment from earlier?”

“Yeah,” Klaus said weakly, whether it was from it really sinking in that he  _ actually _ saw Dave again or from finding Thomas he wasn’t sure. “ _ That, _ ” he said pointedly. “Also happens to be Dave.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as we can all see i messed with dave's age and timeline and background and stuff because... i didn't like it in s2 and it's my fic so i can do what i want adkjsdfs.  
> also if you're not picturing cody ray thompson when i write dave you're wrong. no disrespect to the actor who plays dave in s2 but i just dont like the the show's choice to make dave that young is s2  
> as always... come talk to me about ttua on tumblr @lastyoungrene-gay-de !!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everybody!! im just letting you know i didn't do too much editing on this chapter bc i really wanted to get it posted today because i actually start my college classes tomorrow morning so im not sure how often i'll be able to write and update this fic. im not abandoning it i just have to figure out how big my typical work load is gonna be and how much free writing time i'll have this semester.

“What do you mean that was Dave?” Ben asked. Klaus didn’t answer as he hurried up the steps back to his room. “Klaus, what the  _ hell?” _ They finally reached the top of the steps and Klaus quickly made his way down the hall to his room. He shut the door behind him, which Ben easily walked through as if it wasn’t there. 

“Klaus, seriously. What-” 

“I was gonna answer your goddamn question Ben,” Klaus snapped and began pacing across the room. “Excuse me if I didn’t think yelling about my passionate romantic and sexual relationship with the man who came to talk to his dead grandfather who doesn’t fucking know me yet because we don’t meet for another eight years serving in a war that we technically aren’t actually involved in yet in a shelter full of war veterans in 19-fucking-60 was a great fucking idea,” he hissed as he continued pacing. He sucked in a huge gulp of breath since he hadn’t paused for one the entire time he was talking. 

“Well, excuse  _ me _ if I’m not used to you having a reasonable thought,” Ben shot back. “Klaus what is going on?” 

“That was Dave,” Klaus said again, slightly frantic. 

“Like  _ Dave _ Dave?” Ben asked. 

“No, the  _ other _ Dave,” Klaus replied sarcastically before throwing his hands up and finally stopping his pacing. “Yes, Dave!” 

“What was he doing here?” Ben asked. “You said something about his grandfather?” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said weakly and dropped to sit down on the bed. “His uncle brought him here to talk to his grandfather about enlisting.” 

“Fuck,” Ben said. “What did he say?” 

“He told him not to enlist if he didn’t want to,” Klaus said. 

“And how was it supposed to be? Originally? Do you know?” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said with a sigh. “He doesn’t enlist. He’s drafted in a few years.” 

“So nothing changed?” Ben asked. “You didn’t fuck up the timeline?” 

“No,” Klaus said softly. “I didn’t change anything.” 

“And you won’t,” Ben said. He took a step closer when Klaus averted his gaze. “ _ Klaus, _ you won’t change anything, right?” 

“Well, what if-” 

“No,” Ben said firmly. “Not  _ if _ anything. No.” 

“It’s just different,” Klaus sighed and slumped his shoulders. He knew what Ben was going to say if he said what he was really thinking, and he couldn’t afford to have anything change his mind. “Now that I’ve actually seen him.” 

“I’m sure it is,” Ben said, voice softer than it had been a moment before. “Maybe you just need something else to focus on.” 

“Sure,” Klaus said, though he knew he wouldn’t stop thinking about it. “What do you suggest?” 

“Why don’t we try to find the others?” Ben responded carefully. Klaus sat up straight and his eyes widened a little bit. 

“Like find, or…  _ find?” _ He gestured in little circles with his hands to say a ghostly kind of find. Ben just pursed his lips in response, and Klaus immediately started stammering out, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I am not doing that. No, Ben, I can’t- You know I can’t do that.” 

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Ben said and tried to take Klaus’ hands to calm him down. As usual, they went right through his brother’s solid form, but this time they gave him an idea as well. “What if you worked on making ghosts visible,” he said. 

“What?” Klaus asked after a few more deep breaths. 

“We can work on making ghosts visible,” he said. “It’ll give you something else to focus on.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Klaus said. “Okay.” 

“It’ll also help with your appointments,” Ben said. Klaus furrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth to talk again, but Ben cut him off. “If you can make ghosts visible you won’t have to play translator anymore.” 

“Yeah, okay,” Klaus said, voice still shaking. “Yeah, that’s a much better idea.” 

“So what exactly did you do the other few times you made me corporeal?” 

_ “I don’t know, Ben,” _ Klaus wailed, on the verge of crying again. 

“Okay, okay, okay,” Ben said comfortingly. “Yeah, okay, come on, we don’t have to do this right now, okay?” Klaus nodded, though he was barely able to focus on what Ben was saying, it felt like the first time he talked to Huey on the street. Ben sounded distant. “Look, why don’t you just take a nap or something before we try anything else.” Klaus nodded again and laid back so he was sprawled out across the bed. “You’re gonna be okay, Klaus. It’s gonna be better once you sleep a bit.” 

And then Ben reached out and tried to touch him again. 

And he did. 

Klaus sat straight up in the bed and looked at his brother with wide eyes. “Did you just-” 

“Oh my god,” Ben whispered and tried again. He quickly reached out and placed his hand on his brother’s forearm, probably a little more forceful than necessary but he still wasn’t sure it was going to work. 

It did. 

Before either of them could say anything Ben threw his arms around Klaus and pulled him into a hug. Klaus started sobbing onto his brother’s shoulder. 

“Oh, my god you did it,” Ben said as Klaus cried. He was holding Ben again.  _ Ben. _ It felt nice to touch him when he wasn’t punching him in the face. He laughed at his own thought, but as he did Ben’s form disintegrated and Klaus’s arms fell back to the bed and his shoulders slumped. 

“Damnit,” he hissed and reached out for Ben again. 

“Whatever you were feeling just now, hold onto it,” Ben said, ignoring Klaus’ hand falling through his shoulder again. “Remember it. Focus on it when you have the energy to try this again, alright?” he insisted. Klaus laughed wetly at his determination. 

“Okay, yeah,” he said and wiped his eyes again. 

“Good,” Ben said softly. “Now go to sleep. You look like shit.” Klaus reached up to lightly smack the back of his head. It flew through him, but based on the look on his face, Klaus thought he got the meaning. 

He laughed as he laid back down on the bed. It fell asleep moments after his head hit the pillow. 

He was halfway through breakfast the next morning before he remembered the events of the day before. No wonder Ben had been giving him weird looks since he got up. 

“Oh fuck,” he mumbled through the mouthful of scrambled eggs he’d just shoved in his mouth. He stood up and grabbed his place, quickly swallowing what was in his mouth before taking one more large bite and dropping the plate in the sink. 

“What the hell, Hargreeves?” Simmons called after him as he left the kitchen. 

“Sorry, I gotta go work on ghost stuff,” he responded, accidentally spitting bits of egg as he spoke. 

“Don’t talk with your mouth full!” Jimmy yelled. 

“Sorry!” Klaus yelled from where he was now halfway up the stairs. He bursted into his room and saw Ben casually lounging on his bed. He looked up when Klaus loudly shut the door behind him. 

“Took you long enough,” he said. 

“Why the fuck didn’t you say anything?” Klaus asked. 

Ben shrugged. “Just wanted to see how long it would take you.” 

“Oh my god,” Klaus muttered and threw his hands up in irritation. “You’re the one who was always saying ‘ _ you can learn to control your powers, Klaus’ _ and  _ ‘you just need to practice, Klaus.’ _ Then you don’t say anything? Unbelievable.” 

“I will say I didn’t realize how much all of it would take out of you,” Ben said and looked up at him. “You passed out pretty early and didn’t even wake up with nightmares.” 

“Yeah, yesterday was a lot,” Klaus said and rubbed the back of his neck. He sat down in the desk chair when Ben didn’t move from the bed. 

“You ready to try this again?” Ben asked. 

“Yeah,” Klaus said. “I even ate before!” he added cheerfully. “I don’t normally do that!” 

“There is so much wrong with that sentence,” Ben muttered and shook his head. He ignored Klaus’ pointed look and stood up. “Okay, just think about yesterday,” he suggested as a starting point for their own training. 

“There was a lot going on yesterday,” Klaus said. 

“Exactly,” Ben said. “Every time I’ve been able to interact with the physical world, you’ve been overwhelmed.” 

“So, what?” Klaus asked, not seeing the point in the conversation. 

“Think about it, Klaus,” Ben groaned. “I punched you, got Diego out from under falling rock, whatever the  _ fuck _ happened at the theater, and yesterday when you were having a panic attack.” He held up a new finger on his hand with every example, as if Klaus couldn’t count. 

“So..?” Klaus trailed off, moving his hands in a rolling motion for Ben to continue. 

“Think about it.” 

“That’s kind of  _ your _ thing,” Klaus pouted. 

“Your powers show when you get more emotional,” Ben explained. “Just like Vanya.”

“Uhh,  _ no,” _ Klaus argued. “Not just like Vanya. I don’t get pissed off and blow up the moon- which honestly, I don’t really blame her for, but I did  _ not _ see it coming.” 

“Yeah, neither did Five,” Ben said and began pacing the room like Klaus had so many times already. 

“You’re making me anxious with the pacing,” Klaus complained. 

“What if I want to make you anxious?” Ben asked. Klaus furrowed his eyebrows and physically recoiled. 

“Why the fuck would-”

“To get you worked up, feeling something,” Ben explained and waved his arms around wildly. 

“I don’t like that idea,” Klaus said meekly. 

“It could work,” Ben countered. 

“It sounds like something Dad would do.” 

Ben stopped pacing. He slowly turned to him with wide eyes, shoulders tense and raised. “Don’t say that,” he said softly. 

Klaus realized it was the second time in a few weeks he said that. He’d said that to Ben when he first tried to get him to hone his powers, and Ben had said the exact same thing in response. 

“I don-” Klaus said and cut himself off with a sigh. “I don’t  _ want _ to say that, Ben, but whenever you talk about my powers and how to use them as if they don’t also directly affect me I’m thirteen again begging Dad to let me out of a mausoleum. So forgive me if I don’t wanna hear it.” He spit the last sentence out with much more attitude than he intended to, but he also didn’t really care. He’d take pissing Ben off for the millionth time over having to think back to his father’s training methods any day. 

“Hold on, you begged Dad to do  _ what?”  _ Ben asked. 

Klaus sighed and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands. “That was my training. To get over my fear of the ghosts. Locked in a mausoleum for hours at a time,” he said. “That’s all I wanna say about it.” 

Ben pursed his lips. “Okay,” he said. “What if we tried something else?” 

“What, Ben?” Klaus said. Even he could hear the defeat in his voice. “What else is there to try?” 

“So, all those times you made me corporeal you were overwhelmed with  _ negative _ emotions,” Ben said and sat back down on the bed. “So why don’t we try positive emotions?” Klaus tilted his head and looked up at the ceiling as he thought about it. 

What had he been feeling when Ben was able to do things? When Ben punched him he was feeling bad about himself and wanted to relapse. When he pulled Diego out of danger he was scared for him. At the theater he was panicked about seeing Cha-Cha and walking into heavy gunfire inside. The day before he was panicking about the idea of his siblings being dead. 

“Yeah,” he decided. “We can try that.” 

“Okay,” Ben said with a smile, more upbeat than he’d been a moment before. “Let’s start with happy. Think of something that makes you happy.” 

Klaus bit his bottom lip as he thought about it. What made him happy? Really, he hadn’t been happy much, he realized. There were times when they were kids that he liked thinking about, usually ones where his dad wasn’t around. Dave. That one time he drove an ice cream truck into the time travelling assassins who’d tortured him with Diego in the passenger seat yelling at him to go faster. And… yeah that was pretty much it. He considered time he remembered getting high, but decided not to dwell on that too much. Besides, he wasn’t really sure if he was  _ happy _ when he was high or if he was just less scared so it was easier to pretend he was happy. Either way, not what he wanted to focus on. 

“Okay,” he said and closed his eyes the same way he had when he summoned Ben. “Not a wide selection of things to choose from, but let’s try it.” 

“Okay, now just…” Ben trailed off. 

“You have no idea, do you?” 

“Nope.” 

“Alright-y then,” Klaus said with a laugh. “Just… doing… something.” 

“Pretty much,” Ben agreed. 

“Shut up and let me concentrate.” 

“Sorry.” 

Klaus took a deep breath and slowly let it out through his nose. He thought about how he felt the day before, after the possibly- dead- siblings- induced panic attack when he realized he could actually touch Ben. He’d given Ben a  _ hug. _

He felt a weird pressure in his head. It felt like something pushing in on his skull from all angles, like he’d gone too far underwater or something. 

“Oh, fuck,” he hissed, opening his eyes and rubbing his temples. As soon as he broke his focus the pressure eased up. 

“What? What’s wrong?” Ben asked. 

“ _ Fuck,” _ Klaus whined. “My head hurt.” He sighed and closed his eyes again. “And I think that means it’s working.” 

“Oh.” 

After another moment of silence and focus the pressure slowly came back. He let it this time. It eventually got worse than it had been before, and he could feel every heartbeat throbbing in his head. It felt like someone had their hands on the sides of his head and were pushing as hard as they could. He tried to focus on hugging Ben, but eventually he couldn’t take it anymore. He opened his eyes and gasped, breaking his focus and stopping the pulsing. 

“Oh god,” he said and went to rub his temples again. 

“You okay?” Ben asked again, eyebrows furrowed in concern. 

“Yeah, I think I just need a minute before the next go, though,” he answered. He curled in on himself in the chair a bit. 

“I think you need to get some water so something,” Ben said. 

“No, just give me a minute,” Klaus responded. Ben didn’t say anything else. Klaus spent the next few minutes trying to pull together more happy memories. “I think I need to focus just on happy memories with you,” he said after a minute. 

“Yeah, that would make sense,” Ben said with a nod. “The same thing as trying to summon someone, needing that connection.” 

“Exactly,” Klaus said and pushed anything else out of his mind as he prepared to try again. 

Sneaking out with Ben. The pressure came back. Sneaking out with all of his siblings to get doughnuts. All he could feel was the pulsing in his head. Ben going  _ ‘wheeee’ _ while he was driving the ice cream truck. He curled in on himself again but didn’t break his focus. Hugging Ben the day before. There was a  _ pop _ in his ears and the pressure stopped. He opened his eyes as he heard a soft  _ whoosh _ and looked at Ben. He was glowing blue like he had in the theater before the end of the world. He wasted no time reaching out to touch him. 

He made actual contact instead of passing through him. He chuckled lightly as soon as he realized it worked, and Ben looked at him with wide eyes again before pulling him into yet another hug. Their second in as many days. Klaus quickly hugged him back. 

“I don’t know how long I’ll be able to do this,” he said without moving away from Ben. 

“I know,” he said. He didn’t move away either. “I’m gonna take this while I can though.” Klaus laughed and held him tighter. 

It wasn’t long before his arms fell through Ben’s form again. They both sighed when it happened, but Klaus didn’t have the energy to do much more. 

“Oh, my god, my head,” he moaned and put his head in his hands again. “Why do these powers have to be so fucking painful?” he whined. 

“What does it feel like?” Ben asked. 

“Like I’m wearing a second head that’s three sizes too small,” Klaus answered and made his way back to the bed. “I’m taking fucking nap.” 

“You just got up,” Ben pointed out. 

“I don’t care,” Klaus snapped and fell face first onto the mattress. 

“You have to try again.” 

“I’ll try again later,” Klaus whined. He groaned loudly as someone knocked on the door. 

“Hargreeves?” Jimmy said. 

“Ghost stuff made my head hurt,” he yelled through the door. 

“Okay, just wanted to let’cha know we got a few more appointments for ya,” Jimmy said. “I’ll just put the note of dates and times under the door for ya.” 

“Okay,” Klaus groaned. A few seconds later he heard footsteps walking away from his room, and not long after that he fell asleep. 

He refused to try again after he got up. Ben voiced his disapproval of that decision, but Klaus doesn’t care. He wasn’t doing that again that day. He had an appointment and many other ghosts to ignore. He figured Ben was welcome to try if he wanted to deal with those fucking headaches. 

His appointment was much less eventful than the previous two. No unexpected gory ghost or future dead ex- boyfriends, just a wife looking for her husband’s will because they didn’t talk to each other enough. He wished it had lasted longer, though because he didn’t want to hear any more-

“Klaus, you should try again,” Ben insisted, sitting on the floor next to Klaus.

“No.” 

“Maybe later you could-” 

“No. Not today.” 

“Why not?” 

“When was the last time you felt pain, Ben?” Klaus finally snapped and asked. 

“Wh-What?” Ben asked, eyebrows furrowing and lines appearing on his forehead. 

“Pain, Ben,” Klaus clarified and layed down completely on the floor. “Do you even remember it?” 

“I mean… yeah, why?” Ben answered slowly. 

“Because I don’t think you do,” he responded shortly. “Because it fucking sucks and I don’t wanna do that today.” Ben looked away from him and down to the floor. “If you say anything else about it, I won’t try tomorrow either.” 

“Okay,” Ben said after a moment. 

Klaus closed his eyes. Deep down he knew Ben didn’t mean to be annoying about this. He just didn’t really remember what Klaus was putting himself through whenever he tried something like this. Klaus was also trying not to be an asshole about it, but it just happened most of the time. Oh well, they both had some progress to make. 

Klaus isn’t able to talk to anyone without being in danger of getting punched for days. 

He keeps trying to make Ben corporeal, and he actually does it. A few days later he’s actually able to make Daniels’ kid Johnny visible too, but he’s never able to keep them visible for more than a minute or two. Ben was actually the one to notice that he was making them visible more and more quickly, which was good for Klaus since it meant the pulsing headaches didn’t last as long. 

But all this training had him in a bad mood for quite a while, and the rest of the guys were getting tired of it. 

“Damnit, Hargreeves, what the hell is your problem lately?” Simmons snapped after yet another of his snarky, depressing comments at an anti-war meeting. 

“ _ This,” _ he said and gestured wildly over the papers on the kitchen table. “Can’t change shit. It’s not enough to get anything done.” 

“This is just the beginnin’ man,” Huey said calmly. “It’s all we can do for now.” 

“Even anything more drastic isn’t gonna stop shit,” Klaus snapped. “The people capable of stopping it are the only ones benefiting from it, so they’re just going to let it go on and on and on. They’re going to use any excuse they can to keep going no matter what anyone else thinks. People could be dying in the streets in protest and it won’t change  _ shit.” _

“Klaus, shut up!” Ben yelled from his usual corner of the room. “Don’t say too much, you can’t change the timeline.” 

“Don’t you dare tell me to shut up!” Klaus roared and spun on his brother. “They don’t care about the death and destruction. Any that’s happened, what’s happening now, or what’s going to happen. You said so yourself! We can’t change shit!” He stood there for a moment, chest heaving from screaming in anger. None of the guys said anything either. Ben pursed his lips and shook his head.

“You need to calm down,” he hissed.

“Oh, don’t you dare look at me like that! Don’t say that to me,” Klaus snapped at his brother. “Don’t act like you didn’t have anything to do with this. All this training and working on this shit is exhausting and you just push, push, push! Fuck you!” He turned around and stomped out of the kitchen with a huff. 

“I regret telling you about the anti-war movement!” Ben called after him. 

“You should’ve known I wouldn’t keep my mouth shut!” Klaus yelled as he stormed up the stairs. He slammed the bedroom door shut behind him and flopped down face first onto the bed. A moment later he flipped over so he was on his back, staring at the ceiling as he stewed in his anger.

A few minutes later, someone knocked on the door to Klaus’ room and he flipped back over onto his stomach to try to get out of any possible conversation. 

“Hey,” Daniels’ voice said so softly Klaus barely heard it. “Can I talk to ya?” 

“Nhhg,” was all Klaus said in response. Daniels must have taken that as a yes, because Klaus heard the doorknob turning and the door creak open. “What do you  _ waaaant _ ?” Klaus whined into the pillow. 

There was a sigh and the sound of the chair moving and Klaus finally looked up to see Daniels in the chair. “Some ‘a the other guys said you got real pissy earlier.” 

“Whatever,” Klaus mumbled and flopped onto his back on the bed. 

“No ones mad at’cha,” Daniels said quickly. “We see that with a lot ‘a guys. Real irritable or somethin’ like that.” 

“Then why are you here?” 

“Calm ya down,” Daniels said with a shrug. “I went through a bunch’a shit like that when I got back. They send me in to help the new guys when they’re havin’ trouble keepin’ a level head.” 

“Oh, what are we gonna do? Breathing exercises?” Klaus asked sarcastically. 

“Yeah, for a bit,” Daniels said with a smug grin. “But first we’re gonna talk about why you’re actin’ like a jackass in the first place.” 

Klaus laughed. “Oh really? We gonna talk about my feelings, Doc? Should this be a couch instead of a bed?” 

Daniels shook his head. “Sometimes I have no idea what the hell you’re sayin’.” 

“Ehh, no one does,” Klaus said. 

It was silent for a moment before Daniels started talking. “The guys said you yelled something about training or somethin’ like that.” 

Klaus sighed. “Yeah, I’ve been working on some ghost shit.” 

“How’s it been goin’?” 

“I’m getting better at some stuff but it’s all fucking  _ exhausing, _ man,” Klaus said. “And some of it fuckin’  _ hurts.” _

“How so?” Daniels asked with a tilt of his head. 

“The main thing I’m working on, whenever I try it I get these fuckin’ headaches. It’s like my heartbeat is getting stronger and I can feel it slamming on the inside of my head.” 

“No wonder yer fuse has been so short lately,” Daniels said. 

Thank you!” Klaus exclaimed and looked over at him. He sat up on the bed as he continued. “And my brother won’t stop telling me what to do. I mean, I get that he’s seen me do a lot of dumbass shit in my life, but I’m getting better about this shit but he still talks to me like I’m still a teenager constantly high out of my mind, but I’m thirty fucking years old and actually been through some serious shit without him!” 

“What hasn’t he been there for?” 

“Well, he wasn’t with me when I served, for one,” Klaus said. “I have no idea why, so don’t ask. He just wasn’t but he could have been there he would have and he  _ still _ would’ve been calling me a dumbass and telling me everything I’m doing wrong.” 

“Hmm,” Daniels hummed and leaned back in the chair. “You think he means to piss you off with that?” 

“I mean, I  _ guess _ not, but I’ve tried being patient- for once in my fucking life- and waited for him to realize I wouldn’t die if he wasn’t tellin’ me what to do but I’m really fucking tired of waiting for it,” Klaus said. 

“How long has he been dead?” Daniels asked softly. 

“Like fifteen years,” Klaus said, confused by the question. 

“So he’s been watchin’ you fuck up, no offense, for fifteen years now?” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said. “Longer than that if you count the fact that I was not hiding my fucking up before he died either.” 

“Give him some more time,” Daniels sighed. “I was keepin’ Johnny from touchin’ the stove for so long even all these years later I still get anxious when other people are cookin’.” 

Klaus sighed and put his head in his hands. He figured Ben was kind of like a parent, more than their dad ever was and there were some things about being a person their robot mother just didn’t get. And Ben wasn’t able to leave him when he fucked up enough times. “How the fuck do you not lose your fucking mind?” he asked. 

“That’s where the breathin’ exercises come in,” Daniels said with a smug grin and glint in his eyes. 

“Oh, come one!” Klaus said and threw his arms up in the air. 

“It’s simple, okay,” Daniels said and leaned forward again. “In for four; out for eight.” 

“Huh?” Klaus asked and scrunched his face up in misunderstanding. 

“Count to four breathin’ in and eight breathin’ out,” Daniels clarified. “Focus on the sound if yer breathin’ instead ‘a whatever’s makin’ ya mad.” 

Klaus bit his lip and closed his eyes. “I doubt that’ll do much.” 

“Maybe it wouldn’t work right off the bat, but it’s something you can try ‘till ya find somethin’ else,” Daniels insisted. 

“Okay, whatever,” Klaus muttered and leaned back against the wall. 

“Can I ask what kinda ghost stuff you’re workin’ on?” Daniels asked after another few seconds of silent. 

“I can show you if you want,” Klaus said. “I do need to work on it with someone that  _ isn’t _ my brother.” 

“I thought’cha said it hurt’cha,” Daniels said as his eyebrows furrowed. 

Klaus shrugged. “I will say it’s been getting better. The more I practice the time it takes me to get it to work gets shorter. Ben says it might mean I’ll be able to do it quickly enough that eventually it won't hurt too much.” 

Daniels looked unsure, but said, “If you’re sure you can.” 

“Alright,” Klaus said and crawled off the bed onto the floor. He closed his eyes as he crossed his legs in front of him. Luckily, Daniels decided not to say anything about it. 

_ Come on, Johnny, _ Klaus thought.  _ Let’s put on a show. _

He did the same thing he did before when trying to bring Daniel’s son into the room. He focused on the same thing he had the last time he tried to get him. The thought about people swearing and how he was lucky the kid wasn’t there for their conversation earlier. The tension began to form, and almost as soon as he felt it start he felt it snap. He opened his eyes to be sure Johnny was there, and gave him a small smile when he saw him. Johnny waved and Klaus closed his eyes again. Now came the tricky part. 

Klaus decided to focus on how excited he was the first time he summoned Johnny into the room. Jumping around and yelling with Ben out of excitement. His head began to pound and he squeezed his hands into fists in his lap. He thought about how funny it was to watch that kid yell at people who couldn’t hear him to stop saying bad words. Something or nothing at the same time started pushing his head in at the sides. Daniels’ face when he believed Klaus about his son being in the room. A  _ pop _ and a  _ whoosh _ and a gasp from Daniels. 

“I did it, didn’t I?” Klaus asked without opening his eyes. 

“You sure as hell did,” Daniels said weakly. 

“That’s a bad word!” Johnny complained and Klaus finally opened his eyes as Daniels choked out a noise that sounded like something between a laugh and a sob. 

“Yeah,” he sobbed. “Yeah it is.” 

Johnny’s eyes grew wide. “Daddy, you can see me?” he asked. 

“Yeah, baby I can. Hargreeves here made it so I can see ya.” 

“Speaking of, I probably won’t be able to keep him visible much longer,” Klaus interrupted. “It’s very,  _ very _ draining.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Daniels said and turned back to his son. “I’ve missed you,” he said, eyes shining with tears. 

“I missed you too Daddy,” Johnny said with a wide smile. “I miss Mommy too.” 

“Me too,” Daniels said and Klaus tilted his head. “I haven’t seen her in a while.” 

“Why not?” Johnny asked. 

“Things were hard after you left, I don’t really know what happened, kid,” Daniels answered softly. 

“Oh,” Johnny said and deflated a little bit. He quickly shook it off though and asked, “What about Uncle Davey? You still see Uncle Davey, right?” 

_ Christ, does everyone in this century have the same four first names? _ Klaus thought as Daniels nodded. 

“Yeah, I still see him sometimes.” 

“I miss him too,” Johnny said. “He was funny.” 

“He sure is, isn’t he?” 

Johnny flicked out. Literally disappeared like someone turning a TV off. He even disappeared from the room from Klaus’ view. 

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” he said and gave Daniels an apologetic look. “He’s gone, wherever he was before I got him here and I don’t have the energy to bring him back.” 

“No, no, don’t apologize,” Daniels said quickly. “Oh my god, there’s nothing for you to be sorry for.” 

“But you-” 

“No, Hargreeves,” Daniels said firmly. “You gave me something I never thought I’d get again, okay? You don’t need to apologize for shit.” 

“You’re lucky Johnny isn’t here to yell at you,” Klaus laughed and crawled back up onto the bed. 

“Yeah,” Daniels said and stood up. “Well, I’ll leave ya alone now. Be patient with your brother, from what it sounds like he’s been more than patient with you.” 

“Stop being right,” Klaus groaned and curled up on the bed. 

“No,” Daneils said and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. 

Klaus was sitting with Ben on the couch in the lounge/ living room area of the shelter. It wasn’t a room he’d spent much time in, honestly. He wasn’t sure why, but he was only now getting tired of his room. 

A few weeks had passed since Klaus’ conversation with Daniels. Nothing too drastic had really happened since. He’d made progress with materializing ghosts faster, more often, and for longer amounts of time. Unlike everything else in his life, it had been a gradual process. There were no sudden issues, no end of the world, no life changing or life threatening events, no fathers arriving and torturing him. 

Was this what regular people’s lives were like? 

“Turn,” Ben said, and Klaus flipped the page of the book sitting on the couch’s arm rest. It was a new system they’d worked out once Ben convinced Klaus to ask Jimmy if he could read some of the books he had on the shelves around the shelter. Ben would keep track of page numbers when he finished reading for a bit and when he went back Klaus would open the book to the page and flip the pages as needed, all while Klaus could do whatever he wanted without being too inconvenienced. At this particular moment that was drawing in a sketchbook he got a few weeks before with some of his ghost appointment money. 

It was simple enough that Klaus wondered how the fuck they hadn’t come up with that sooner. Then he remembered ever since he left the Academy he didn’t have regular access to books for Ben to read  _ or _ a place for them to sit taking up two seats and putting an open book near the empty seat and seemingly randomly turning the pages. 

“Hargreeves, ya got another one waitin’ for ya,” Daniels said as he walked past Klaus and Ben. Klaus looked up from the sketch in his lap with his eyebrows furrowed. He looked at Ben, who looked back at him with an equally confused expression. 

“I didn’t have an appointment right now I forgot about, did I?” he asked. Ben shook his head. 

“Not that I know of,” Ben answered. He set his book down as Klaus put his sketch down. Klaus groaned as he pushed himself out of his seat. 

“Might as well,” he said. 

“Ya know, if you start gettin’ walk-ins like this you’re gonna have to move into an actual shop,” Daniels joked. Klaus shook it off and made his way to the kitchen to see who decided to just show up. 

He wasn’t expecting the answer to be Dave. 

Just like the first time he came in, Klaus stopped in his tracks as he turned the corner and Dave came into view. He was sitting in the same chair as last time looking around the room, but his eyes stopped wandering and a smile broke out on his face when he saw Klaus. 

“Hi again,” he said cheerfully. 

“Hi,” Klaus said and tried to collect himself. “You’re back.” 

“I am,” Dave said. His face fell a little bit, the smile slipping. “Sorry to just show up. I didn’t know how to contact you and my uncle-” 

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Klaus said and finally took a step into the kitchen toward the table. “I’m not doing anything, so…” 

“Good, I don’t want to be an inconvenience,” Dave said. 

“I don’t think you ever could be,” Klaus said without thinking about it. Dave tilted his head a little but didn’t say anything about that being a  _ fucking weird _ thing to say. Good. Klaus took a careful breath and asked, “So can I help you with something?” 

“Oh yeah,” Dave said and shifted in his seat a little bit, digging into his pocket. “Yeah, I brought this for last time.” He dropped a few folded bills on the table. 

“I told you-” 

“Yeah you told me not to worry about it,” Dave cut him off and shrugged. “But I was also wondering if I could talk to my grandfather again… without my uncle here. I figured if I was coming back I might as well bring money for last time.” 

Klaus bit the inside of his lip and nodded lightly. “Okay,” he said. “Yeah, let’s try to get your grandfather here.” Dave sat up straighter in his seat and smiled. “I also learned a new trick since the last time you were here,” Klaus added with a small smile. 

Dave raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” he said. “What would that be?” 

“You’ll see,” Klaus teased and closed his eyes. “Okay, let’s see if I can do this without a story this time.” 

He took a deep breath and focused on the last time Thomas Katz was here.  _ Tension. _ The feeling when he appeared.  _ More tension. _ The conversation he’d had with his son and nephew.  _ Snap. _

“Well hello again.” Klaus ignored the new voice in the room. It hadn’t all happened. 

“Damnit,” he hissed and curled his hands into fists. 

“What is it?” Dave asked. “Can you not find him?” 

“No, I got him,” Klaus said and breathed out through his nose. “But my new trick didn’t work. Give me a second.” What had he done with Ben and Johnny? 

He let his shoulders fall completely, letting every bit of tension out. He unclenched his jaw and uncurled his fists. He felt the weird pressure press against his ears, then he felt the  _ pop _ and the soft  _ whoosh _ and he heard Dave gasp. A smile grew on his lips because he knew without even opening his eyes that his grandfather was visible. 

“There we go,” he said, satisfied as he slowly opened his eyes. 

Dave was looking between Klaus and his grandfather. His eyes were wide and shining as his mouth hung open. He didn’t even seem to be trying to hide his amazement. His grandfather hadn’t seemed to notice he was visible yet. 

“How..?” Dave started but trailed off when Klaus gave him a small smile. 

“I’ve been practicing,” was all the explanation Klaus offered. 

“Just Davey today, huh?” Thomas asked, directed at Klaus. Klaus turned to Dave and tilted his head as a gesture for him to talk rather than Klaus. 

“Grandpa, I can see you,” Dave said, eyes still wide with a huge grin on his face he was clearly trying to control but wasn’t doing a very good job. Thomas’ eyes widened and it was his turn to look between the other two men at the table. 

“Well how the hell?” he asked. 

“Oh, I have no idea,” Klaus said and put his hands up, shaking his head and leaning against the back of his seat. “All I know is that I  _ can, _ apparently, do all this shit.” 

“You’re incredible,” Dave breathed out, expression still dazed and awestruck. Though, judging by the look on his face and the way he tensed up a second later, he hadn’t meant to say it outloud. Klaus wasn’t able to say anything about it though, the words taking him back to Vietnam when Dave, the other Dave, said the same thing with the same expression on his face. Klaus quickly looked away from the Dave in front of him. 

“Yeah, so… whatever you wanted to talk about,” Klaus said and spread his hands out in a gesture to say the floor was his. 

“Right,” Dave said, pulling his attention away from Klaus and looking at his grandfather. “Hi,” he said faintly. 

“Hi,” he said back. They both laughed as they looked at each other. 

“Oh my god,” Dave mumbled. “It’s good to see you.” 

“You too, Davey.” 

“You saw me last time,” Dave pointed out. 

“You get the point,” Thomas laughed. 

“Yeah,” Dave said. Klaus could see tears in his eyes. “Yeah, I do.” 

“So what was so important you had to come all the way down here to talk to me again?” Thomas asked and crossed his arms. 

“I guess I was just wondering,” Dave said slowly, eyes quickly looking over at Klaus before he continued. “Well, both me and Uncle Brian were convinced you were gonna want me to enlist,” Dave finished weakly. 

“You were fighting him on it,” Thomas pointed out. 

“Well, yeah, but… I don’t know, I guess I’m just surprised is all,” Dave said and looked down at his hands. Klaus knew where he was coming from. He remembered hearing Dave’s stories about his family. How he looked up to his grandfather and his uncle, but their relationship fell apart when Thomas died and Dave began dragging his feet about enlisting. He’d been as surprised as Brian seemed when Thomas said Dave shouldn’t enlist, though he would be eternally grateful for it. It would make things easier later when he found a way to talk to Dave about finding a way out of the draft. 

“Yeah,” Thomas sighed. “I wouldn’a said the same thing if I were still alive, but…” he shrugs. “I meant what I said.” 

Dave nodded. “Well, thank you,” he said heavily. 

“Don’t let anyone tell what you can and can’t do, Davey,” Thomas said. “I know I tried to when I was alive, but’cha can’t.” 

“I know,” Dave said. 

“‘Specially your uncle,” Thomas insisted. “There’s a lot he thinks he understands, but he doesn’t.” Dave’s expressions shifted just a little bit as he looked away from his grandfather and at Klaus again. 

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Dave said. Klaus looked away, picking at his cuticles in an attempt to look like he wasn’t paying attention to their conversation. 

“Other than that, how are things going for ya?” Thomas asked. 

“Good,” Dave answered with a small nod and awkward smile. “I don’t know, everything’s been whatever. Nothing exciting happening.” 

“I’m not sure I believe that,” Thomas teased with a knowing grin. Dave rolled his eyes dramatically. “Eh, eh, don’t do that. I know you.” 

“No, nothing much happening,” Dave insisted. “Football is changing. New leagues still poppin’ up and I can’t keep track of the teams, but it’s been funny to watch.” 

“Bunch’a chaos?” Thomas asked lightly. 

“Bunch’a chaos,” Dave confirmed. 

Just then Thomas flickered out of sight like a technology glitch and disappeared. It took every bit of Klaus’ self control to not make a Star Wars  _ ‘help me Obi-Wan’ _ joke and focus on making him visible again. 

“Wha-“ Dave started and looked at Klaus, but stopped when he saw he was concentrating again. The pressure built and built up in his head, and after a few seconds without relief Klaus knew it had already taken too much out of him to get him back. 

“Shit,” he hissed and slammed his fists on the table. “I can’t get him back, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how tired I already was.”

“No, it’s okay, don’t worry about it,” Dave said. “I can’t imagine how hard that is.” 

“You’re too fucking nice,” Klaus said with a laugh. 

“Oh yeah, you’re right,” Dave said sarcastically and rolled his eyes. “Let me just be rude and demand more shit from the guy who can summon and conjure my dead grandfather and give me another chance to speak to him even though I never thought I would get in my life because no one else can provide that. That makes sense.” 

Klaus laughed at him and set his forehead against the table for a second. “Oh god, if only everyone thought like that.” 

“Are people seriously that bad to you?” Dave asked in disbelief, which made Klaus laugh as he remembered the last time he was here. 

“You did see your uncle in here before, right?” he said. “If people don’t hear what they want it very quickly turns on me.” 

“Oh fuck, right. Sorry,” Dave said and put his palm on his forehead. “Sorry, that was dumb of me to say.” 

_ Still apologizing too much,  _ Klaus thought.  _ Or…  _ already  _ apologizing too much?  _ He thought, but figured it was best not to dwell on it. It was cute either way. 

“‘S not  _ your _ fault,” he said with a shrug. “How was he after that? If you don’t mind.” 

“Pissed,” Dave answered simply. “Kept goin’ on and on about how it was all bullshit and listin’ off reasons I should still go enlist.” Klaus froze in his seat. “It got me thinking.”

“About what?” Klaus asked hesitantly, both scared of the answer and knowing he still had a chance to influence Dave’s decision. 

“Well, with his big list of reasons why, I got to thinkin’, why shouldn’t I enlist?” Dave said. Klaus could feel his fear and anger boiling over but took a deep breath to calm himself down like Daniels told him. He had to do this right to make sure Dave wouldn’t change his mind again later. 

“Enlisting isn’t a thing to do it ‘because why not,’” Klaus said, hands curling and uncurling on the table. “It’s one of those things you can’t walk away from after you said so either way.”

“I know what you mean,” Dave sighed. “But-” 

“There is no  _ but _ ,” Klaus insisted. “If there’s a doubt in your mind, then you don’t actually want to do it. It’s like getting married or having a kid.” 

“How so?” Dave asked, obviously losing Klaus’ train of thought. “How are either of those things related to this?” 

Klaus sighed. “Those things change your entire life so much there is no going back,” he said, pointing a finger at the palm of his other hand as if there was a map for him to follow to the conclusion  _ DON’T ENLIST _ . “You can’t have a baby and get tired of being a parent a while later and just drop the kid; you can’t enlist and get shipped out go say ‘ _ oh nevermind, I think I’m gonna head home now.’ _ That’s not how it works. If you’re there, you’re there until they say you’re done or until you die.” 

Dave looked down at the table and nodded in understanding. He was quiet for another moment before- “Did you enlist?” he asked quietly. 

“No,” Klaus answered softly. “I sure as fuck wasn’t there because I chose to be, but some of the men I served with were.” 

Dave pursed his lips and hesitated to ask, “And how were they once they got out there?” 

Klaus shook his head. “It wasn’t the heroics and patriotic shit they thought they were signing up for. It was death and destruction and mindless, uncritical obedience that got us nothing but killed,” he spat, voice dripping with disgust as he remembered his ten months in Vietnam. 

“Oh,” Dave said and looked down at his hands. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to doubt you, not with your own experience.” 

“It’s okay,” Klaus sighed, already regretting not controlling his tone. “I just… don’t like to talk about it.” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring it all back up,” Dave said, shrinking in on himself. Klaus hated to see it, it reminded him too much of the Dave in the jungle who was scared to make too much noise. 

“No, Dave,” Klaus said. “I know you didn’t. I’m sorry I snapped. I’m not mad at you.” 

“I just can’t picture you out there,” Dave said softly. “Anywhere.” 

“Why not?” Klaus asked, curious to hear how Dave thought about him. 

“You just seem so…” Dave trailed off and put his chin on his palm as he propped his elbow on the table. “Big. Open. It just seems like you would’ve been so… I don’t know,  _ trapped _ out there.” 

“Everyone was trapped out there,” Klaus said softly. 

“I think you were trapped more though,” Dave said. Klaus looked over at him and did his best to ignore Dave’s expression as he said that. It was the same soft, careful expression he’d had after the first night Dave stayed up with Klaus when he couldn’t sleep or right before he kissed him for the first time. 

“I think you’d pretty trapped too,” Klaus murmured. 

“Yeah,” Dave said, eyes looking directly into Klaus’ as he inched a tiny bit closer to him. Klaus recognized that too. He also did that before he kissed him for the first time. Klaus wanted nothing more than to let history- or the future, depending on how you looked at it- to repeat itself, but he couldn’t let it. 

“So,” he said quickly and stood up, trying to make himself and Dave forget about the leaning in. “What exactly do you do when you’re not talking to your grandfather?”

Dave laughed a little. “I work at my uncle’s hardware store.” 

“That sounds fun,” Klaus said sarcastically, knowing what Dave really thought of that. 

“It’s not great,” Dave said with a shrug. “But it could definitely be worse.” 

“Oh yeah?” Klaus prompted. “How so?” he added with a tilt of his head. 

“Well, I think people are more than their jobs,” he answered. “So it doesn’t really get to me.” 

“You would be one of the few people now-a-days to think like that,” Klaus said with a laugh. “As soon as I got here everyone was on me about gettin’ a job.” 

“Really?” Dave asked. 

“Yeah,” Klaus said, staring down at the floor. “I got up my first morning here and got to breakfast and the first thing someone asked me was what kinda job I was gonna get.” 

“Wow,” Dave said and shook his head. 

“It coulda been worse,” Klaus said with a shrug. 

“Oh yeah,” Dave said and tilted his head the same way Klaus had just a moment before. “How so?” 

“Well, I could still be in the shit,” Klaus said with a small shake of his head. “At that point I’d only been out of it for a few days. A week max.” 

“Oh. I didn’t realize you served so recently.” 

“Yeah,” Klaus sighed. “But at the same time it was so long ago. And in some ways it hasn’t even happened yet.” He laughed sadly as he finished, knowing it wouldn’t make any sense to anyone but him and Ben. He looked up at Dave again, who looked confused but didn’t say anything. “Sorry, I know you probably don’t care about my weird ramblings.” 

“No, no, it’s fine,” Dave said as his eyebrows furrowed even more, this time out of concern rather than confusion. “I guess it’s also nice to know that the whole military experience isn’t all the same as my relatives who shipped out to fight the fucking Nazis.” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said, surprised to find his eyes stinging and his voice shaking. Fuck, he didn’t want to cry right now. He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes to wipe away his sudden tears. “We haven’t done a good goddamn thing since then either.” 

“I think I’d feel different about enlisting if we were fighting something like that,” Dave said softly. “I think that’s what my family- especially my uncle- still think of when they’re tryin’ to get me to enlist.” 

“I think I’d feel better about my own stupid, goddamn suffering if it’d all happened fighting them, too,” Klaus said sadly, voice still quivering. “I just don’t know what good my time out there did for anyone.” 

They were both quiet for a minute. Dave was looking awkwardly down at his hands, which he had clasped together in his lap, which Klaus stared at his shoes. 

“Well, I’m sure as fuck not enlisting,” Dave eventually said. “I guess my biggest hope now is that the draft doesn’t get me.” 

_ It does, _ Klaus thought.  _ Goddamnit, it does. _

“Yeah, well,” Klaus said carefully. “I think there’s gonna be some big problems with the draft coming up.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said. “As soon as people start realizing exactly what these guys are being drafted  _ for _ … it’s not gonna be pretty.” 

“I hope so,” Dave said earnestly. “I think more people need to be listening to guys like you.” 

“They won’t, though,” Klaus said. 

“No,” Dave said, staring curiously at Klaus again. “I don’t think they will.” 

“Klaus, what the fuck are you doing?” Ben’s voice suddenly cut through the kitchen. Klaus jumped out of his skin where he was leaning against the countertop. 

“Jesus, Ben,” he gasped and dramatically put a hand over his heart. “Warn a guy.” 

“You’ve been down here forever,” Ben said, ignoring Klaus’ complaints. “What are you doing?” 

“Just talking,” Klaus said with a shrug and looked over at Dave. “Sorry,” he said and gave him an apologetic smile. “Brothers. What can ya do?” 

“How about you try talking to me, you shit head,” Ben said. “What are you talking about.” 

“Oh, you know,” Klaus said. “Military, feelings, the uselessness of being involved in wars and the eventual public loss of respect for the military,” he said casually and held a hand up and picked at his cuticles. 

“This is dangerous, Klaus,” Ben said and pointed a finger at Dave, who was still sitting in his seat at the table. “This guy isn’t supposed to kno-” He paused when he actually looked at his face. “Klaus is this Dave?!” He asked. Klaus nodded with a small smile he knew would piss Ben off even more. “Klaus this is- ugh!” He threw his hands up and turned around to leave the room. “You’re fucking everything up, Klaus!” he said over his shoulder as he left. 

“What else is new?” Klaus called after him. 

“What did he say?” Dave asked, amused. 

“He said I’m fucking everything up,” Klaus said with a shrug. “And he’s probably right. He was always a lot smarter than me.” 

“How could you possibly be fucking  _ everything _ up?” Dave asked incredulously. 

“I’ve done it before, probably will again,” Klaus said casually. Dave gave him an odd but familiar look. Klaus had seen it before many times in Vietnam but had never been able to decipher it. It was something close to pity, but that wasn’t quite what it was. He wouldn’t have been able to stand it if Dave pitied him right now. 

“I’m sorry to hear you think that,” Dave eventually said and stood up. “I gotta get goin’. Uncle Brian needs me at the store later.” 

“Yeah, have fun with that,” Klaus teased. 

“Oh yeah, I love listening to my uncle’s pissed off mutterings about men buying pink paint,” Dave said sarcastically. Klaus rolled his eyes. Dave took a few steps toward the doorway but suddenly stopped and reached into his pocket. “Here, this is for this time,” he said and held out a few bills. 

“You don’t have to-” Klaus started, but Dave cut him off. 

“Oh my gosh just take the fucking money,” he said. Klaus reached out for the money and Dave smiled at him. 

“Thank you,” he said and fiddled with the money now in his hand. 

“Yeah, thank you too,” Dave said earnestly. Klaus nodded and Dave took another step out of the room. “See ya around,” he said. 

“Yeah,” Klaus sighed as he stepped out of view. “See you around.” He stood there for a second, watching the doorway Dave had just disappeared through. 

“You can’t do that,” Ben suddenly said. Klaus jumped, startled so much he dropped the money still in his hands. 

“Christ on a cracker, Ben,” he said and put a hand on his chest. “Don’t do that to me. I thought you left.” 

“Well, I didn’t get far because of how stupid you’re being,” Ben said with a sigh. “Klaus, I get it. You like this guy. He was your little Vietnam fling and to save him, but-” 

“Shut up,” Klaus said and left the kitchen. 

Ben was following him, but apparently he learned from the first time Dave was there that he wasn’t going to talk about their relationship outside his room and didn’t say anything yet. They got to the room quickly and Klaus slammed the door behind them. 

“There is no  _ ‘like’,” _ he hissed and got in Ben’s face as he spoke. “I love him, okay? It was more than a wartime  _ fling _ and if you say that again you’ll have to listen to this monologue everytime. I love him and he died in my arms, any chance I have to save him from that I’m taking it, timeline be damned.” 

“Klaus, they’ll come after you-” 

“I don’t care!” 

“And what will they do to him?” Ben yelled. Klaus froze. “Klaus if he’s supposed to die, he’s going to die. One way or the other.” 

“He doesn’t have to,” Klaus whispered. “I can’t let him, Ben, he doesn’t have to.” 

Ben looked in his eyes intently and didn’t speak for a moment. His furrowed brow eased a little and the look in his eyes changed. “Whatever,” he said. “You know where I stand on this.” And with that, he turned and walked through the door. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, thanks for reading and come talk to me on tumblr @lastyoungrene-gay-de !!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lot's of stuff happens. ben has opinions, klaus moves, dave makes a move, some other stuff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello my dudes i am not in fact dead!! yay! yeah school started a few weeks ago and im a creative writing major which means im taking 2 literature classes, a creative writing class, and two elective classes so my time has been pretty limited but what I could I've spent writing this chapter. i have a few notes i hope you'll read before getting into the chapter tho.  
> 1\. klave heavy chapter because i wanted it to be. dave gay  
> 2\. part of the reason this took so long is because i was also doing research because i wanted dave to be clearly jewish in this fic, but im not jewish myself so i was super worried to write something acknowledging it but then fucking it up majorly, but i came up with something and want to work it in more later. I actually wrote the conversation longer but then deleted it because i wasn't 100% about it so i got rid of some of it but i might work it in later after more research. if anyone would be willing to give me feedback on that i would be forever grateful, but no pressure to  
> 3\. I wanted to acknowledge the racism happening in 1960s texas especially since it's going to come back later when the rest of the sibs show up (obviously with allison's arc including a lot of activism and the rest of the siblings' arcs are going to remain relatively the same, only changing by how it would be affected by klaus' arc being different) but the part in this chapter isn't huge but i got it in there a bit but i am white soc again im worried about fucking that up majorly too even tho it's literally just a dude being racist and klaus and ben getting mad

Klaus was pretty much dominating the kitchen table. He had so many customers meal times had to be designated for the whole shelter to make sure they had room to actually make food. He was considering taking his appointments up to his room to work instead of the kitchen, but Jimmy insisted his room should be an escape place from all that. 

“A bedroom should be private,” he had said. He also started muttering about weird sixties social rules about who could and couldn’t be alone with each other in someone’s bedroom, which Klaus did not give a single shit about. 

He was getting along with Ben well enough, as long as they didn’t talk about Dave. That was getting harder and harder, however, since Dave started coming by more and more. No one else came by more than a time or two, some of them having gotten what they needed and some of them quite obviously taking a dislike to Klaus’ style and mannerisms, but Dave kept coming back. 

He started asking to talk to different people, old friends or distant family members, but eventually he stopped and Klaus realized he was there to talk to  _ him. _ He felt that same jolt of shock and excitement when he realized it that he did when he realized Dave actually liked talking to him the first time around. 

“So, I know you have the ghost brother, but do you have any other family?” Dave asked one day, sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of water in front of him. 

“Yeah,” Klaus said sadly. “There were seven of us growing up.” 

“Oh, wow,” Dave said softly and leaned against the table.  _ “Seven?” _

“Yeah,” Klaus chuckled. The same reaction as last time. “I get that a lot.” 

“You keep up with any of them?” 

“Just Ben,” Klaus said and looked down at his hands. “It’s… complicated.” 

“With that many of you,” Dave said and brought his cup to his lips. “I’m sure it is.” He finished the thought speaking into the glass. He took a sip and put it back on the table before he continued. “There were four of us and I couldn’t manage to keep up with any of them.” 

“That tough,” Klaus said distantly. “I’m not sure where any of the rest of them are.” 

“But you still care about them,” Dave said carefully and raised his eyebrows. It wasn’t a question so much as an objective observation. 

“Yeah,” Klaus sighed. “Every single one of us are self absorbed assholes, but we were kinda gettin’ there toward the end.” 

“And that’s what made it complicated,” Ben's voice suddenly cut through the kitchen. Both Klaus and Dave jumped in their seats as they looked for the source of the voice. 

“ _ Christ on a cracker _ , Ben,” Klaus said and glared at his brother. “When the fuck did you come in here?” 

“Long enough to hear you talk about our mess of a family,” Ben answered and crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter. “And I will have you know I am not a self absorbed asshole.” 

“Oh, let me tell ya,” Klaus said and leaned forward in his seat. “Death shows you who a person really is, and  _ you _ sir,” he pointed at Ben with a flourish, “are a self absorbed asshole just like the rest of us.” 

“So, you’re Ben?” Dave asked and pointed at Ben, with less dramatics than Klaus just had. Klaus whipped his head around to look at Dave, then back at Ben, and at Dave again. He pointed at his brother, raising his entire arm to point behind him. 

“You can see him?” 

Dave nodded. “Yeah,” he said. Klaus threw his hands, balled up into fists, in the air. 

“Hell yeah,” he said and turned back to Ben. “How are you doing that? I’m not doing that.” 

“Unironically, you’re too powerful,” Ben said, staring at Klaus, unimpressed. 

“ _ Oh, get sober, Klaus. Train with your powers, Klaus,”  _ Klaus fake whined in an imitation of his brother. “But now I’m ‘too powerful.’” He made air quotes with his fingers when he repeated Ben’s words. 

Ben rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” 

“True brothers,” Dave said and raised his glass to his lips again to hide his grin. 

“You have a brother?” Ben asked, pointedly paying attention to him rather than Klaus. 

“Yeah,” Dave said with a nod and set his glass back down on the table. “We used to give each other shit like that.” 

“Don’t talk much anymore?” Ben asked, eyes not leaving Dave.

“Nah,” Dave said with an exaggerated shrug and wave of his hand. “He fell into my uncle’s bullshit a while back. First we  _ couldn’t  _ talk much then he started givin’ me shit for not signin’ up like Brian did. Kinda drifted apart after that.” Ben nodded in understanding but didn’t say anything else. Klaus was trying to come up with something to say to break the tension and change the subject when Daniels walked into the kitchen. 

“Hey, you got someone else hopin’ to talk to ya,” he said. 

“Really?” Klaus asked incredulously and double checked the clock by the sink, not expecting anyone this late in the day. “Right now?” 

Daniels shrugged. “Apparently. Ya want me to send ‘em away?”

“No, no,” Klaus sighed. “I’ll see them.” 

“Really?” Ben said, eyebrows raised. 

“What else am I gonna do?” Klaus replied, raising a hand in a ‘why not’ gesture. “At least this way I get some money out of it.” 

“Work, work, work,” Dave teased and pushed his seat back and stood up. 

“Gotta do something,” Klaus said and stood up as well. He followed Dave’s first few steps out of the kitchen, but suddenly he stopped and spun around to face him again and Klaus crashed right into his chest. 

“Shit, sorry,” Dave said and reached out and set his hands on his shoulders to steady him. Klaus wasn’t that close to falling over, but he welcomed the touch all the same. 

“It’s fine,” Klaus said, and he felt his face fall a bit when Dave pulled his hands back to his sides. 

“There is actually something else I wanted to talk to you about,” Dave said almost nervously. He was looking down at his feet instead of Klaus’ face. “Any chance you could do lunch sometime soon?” 

“Uhh, yeah,” Klaus said. He raised a hand and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to hear anything over the way his heart was suddenly pounding in his ears. “I’m usually busy during typical lunch hours because people come in on their lunch breaks, but if you can do, like mid-afternoon, that would work.” 

“Yeah, that should work,” Dave says. “Like… Tuesday?” 

“Hold on,” Klaus said and hurried out of the room to the hallway. There was a calendar set up by the phone that had become Klaus’ appointment schedule, and he checked his appointments for Tuesday afternoon, muttering about “becoming someone who has the check a fucking schedule” the entire time. A moment later he felt Dave standing a few steps behind him. It made him smile a bit, thinking about how Dave was always careful to give him- and anyone else, really- their space. “Uhhh, how about 2:15?” 

“Yeah, that works,” Dave said from behind him. 

“Hold on, let me write this in,” Klaus said and looked around frantically for a pencil. “Because that is who I’ve become,” he added as if it pained him. 

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Dave said. “I’ll see ya then.” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said and looked up from the calendar as Dave started walking to the door. “See you then.” Dave gave him one last smile before stepping out the door. Klaus sighed once he was gone. 

“Klaus,” Ben said lowly. Klaus sighed again, this time in exasperation at already knowing what was coming. 

“Can we do the whole calling me dumb thing later?” he asked and turned back to the kitchen. “I do have another customer right now.” 

Ben exhaled sharply. “Fine,” he sighed. “But be quick, no unnecessary dramatics please.” 

Klaus scoffed and looked at his brother. “Do you know me?” Ben just rolled his eyes. “I will be as fast as I can,” he added, carefully pronouncing every syllable as if speaking to a child. 

It’s a fairly routine appointment. A man wanting to talk to his recently deceased father, Klaus found him, they got to talk, the dad got closure, the son left on the edge of tears after shoving a wad of bills into Klaus’ hands. Nice, normal Klaus stuff. He got to his room and quickly tucked the money away in the box the cowboy boots he bought on impulse came in in the bottom drawer of his dresser, and when he stood up Ben was there. 

“Alright,” Klaus said and dramatically fell onto the bed, on his back and sprawled out so every limb hung off one of the edges of the mattress. “I know.  _ Preserve the timeline, don’t talk to the love of your life when he comes to see you,  _ yada, yada. Let me hear it,” he said tiredly. 

“I’m not gonna do that today, actually,” Ben said, sounding satisfied with himself. A smug grin grew on his face at the way Klaus lifted his head off his pillow to look at him with his eyebrows furrowed. 

“Come again?” 

“You heard me,” Ben said with a shrug. “I’m not gonna get into all that. You obviously don’t care.” 

Klaus narrowed his eyes as he sat up to properly face his brother. “Then what  _ are _ you going to say?” he asked suspiciously. 

“Just that it’s not fair,” Ben said. Klaus didn’t respond. “You know it  _ isn’t, _ right Klaus?” When Klaus sighed and let his head fall back to the pillow Ben pursed his lips. 

“Oh, god, there’s an annoyingly serious conversation coming, isn’t there?” Klaus whined. 

“Klaus,” Ben said seriously, but less stern, as he sat down on the desk chair. Judging by his tone Klaus guessed he wasn’t about to say something he’d told him already, like there was a chance Ben thought he might  _ actually _ listen to him. “Our situation is fucked up, and as much as you may want to forget about it and act like we’ve been here our whole lives,  _ we can’t.” _

“But-” 

“Klaus, we know things,” Ben cut him off sternly with a  _ ‘stop’ _ type of hand gesture. “We have to be careful-  _ you _ have to be careful. We can  _ really _ fuck things up without meaning to. Klaus, I don’t even know how to explain all this.” 

Klaus shook his head. “I think I get the idea,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. His lip quivered and his eyes stung. “It just…” He shook his head again. “It isn’t fair.” 

“When has anything ever been fair for us?” Ben suddenly exclaimed and jumped out of the chair. Klaus jerked back as an instinctual reaction to the sudden outburst, but Ben kept going. “Damnit, look at our lives- what Dad did to us. How fucked up every single one of us ended up. Nothing about us is fair.” 

“What’s your point, Ben?” Klaus asked. A tear finally fell onto his cheek. 

“You might not care about things being unfair to you, but this isn’t fair to him either,” Ben said softly. “You know  _ so much _ that he doesn’t. It isn’t fair to either of you if anything else happens.” 

“I know,” Klaus said faintly and wiped his eyes. Ben nodded, and neither of them said anything else. 

Klaus was sitting in the living room when Dave got to the shelter on Tuesday. He was on the rough, scratchy couch he tried his best to avoid sitting on with his legs stretched out so his feet were on the coffee table. He had his sketchbook in his lap again, so immersed in his drawing of Ben he didn’t even notice when Dave walked up behind him. 

“Holy shit, that’s really good,” he said suddenly. Klaus jerked so hard he dragged his hand off the edge of the paper as he was shading Ben’s dark jacket, creating a line along the bottom of the paper. “Oh my fuck, I am so sorry!” he said. When Klaus looked up at him his eyes were wide and panicked and he had a hand over his mouth. “Shit, I’m sorry.” 

Klaus shrugged his shoulders and flipped the book shut. “Don’t worry about it. It’s fine, I’ll just make it a tentacle.” 

Dave looked between him and the book as if it was still open. He still looked horrified, but Klaus could see the confusion working its way onto his expression as he processed what Klaus had just said. “No, it’s not- wait you’ll make it a  _ what?” _

Klaus stood up and patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Davey.” He took a step past him and toward the front door. “What are we eating?” he asked, and Dave finally started after him. 

“Uhh, there’s a diner a few blocks away that’s pretty good,” Dave said as he reached the front door. 

“Sounds great,” Klaus said and pulled the door open. “However, depending on which diner it is, I might not be allowed in.” 

Dave raised an eyebrow. “Do I wanna ask why?” 

“Ehh,” Klaus shrugged. “I was not in the best place one of my first days back and I went inside and pissed off the wrong person.” 

“Now, why does that not surprise me?” Dave asked lightly. 

“Because you know me?” Klaus suggested with a laugh. Dave chuckled next to him but didn’t say anything else until they got to the restaurant. Luckily, it wasn’t the same one Klaus went to right after arriving in 1960, though it looked a lot like it. Klaus guessed there was a reason all fifties/ sixties themes diners all looked the same in the future. The color schemes, the seating, the way the menu was printed up on the wall above a counter, the windows painted with combo deals or advertisements in that certain style Klaus associated with crappy used car dealerships. He smiled at the jingle of a bell that filled his ears as Dave opened the door for him. 

“Thank  _ you _ ,” he laughed as he walked inside, Dave close behind him. 

“I always sit up at the counter,” Dave said and guided Klaus over to the seats at the very end of the counter farthest from the door. They settled in their seats, Klaus in the one next to the wall, and he turned so he could lean back against it and face Dave. 

“So what do you recommend?” he asked as he eyed the menu. 

“I like the hamburger,” Dave said. “They have  _ amazing _ fries,” he added a moment later when Klaus didn’t respond. 

“Why, thank you Dave,” a bright, cheery voice said as a waitress appeared from behind the counter. She was wearing a white knee length dress with sleeves that hugged her shoulders with her light brown hair pulled back. She had a small but genuine smile on her face instead of a large, fake customer service one Klaus would have expected. That made more sense when he watched her as Dave replied. 

“Hi Mary,” he said with a polite smile. “How’ve things been?” 

“Pretty, good,” she said and pulled a notebook from a pocket of her apron. “You want your usual?” she asked. 

“Yeah, that would be great,” he answered and turned to Klaus. “What about you?” 

Klaus looked back up at the menu then down at the waitress in fake suspicion. “Breakfast all day, huh?” he asked, as if he expected her to say no. 

“Yes, sir,” she said, this time with fake cheer. 

“I’ll have a waffle then,” he said with a nod and a smile. 

“Alright,” she muttered and wrote it down before slowly turning back around and wandering off.

“So, you wanted to talk to me about something?” Klaus turned back to Dave and prompted casually, as if he hadn’t been worrying about what that something could be constantly over the last few days. 

“Yeah, I just…” he trailed off and shifted in his seat as if slightly uncomfortable. “It’s kinda stupid, I guess, but-”

“Anything you have to ask isn’t stupid, Dave,” Klaus said firmly, mostly knowing from experience that Dave had a tendency to down play his own stuff to make someone else feel better. It was yet another thing Klaus was happy to see in this Dave and that it was apparently something that Dave hadn’t picked up over the years between then and when Klaus actually met him. 

Thinking that sentence through, Klaus took a moment to wonder what in the  _ genuine fuck _ his life was. 

“You might be tired of talking about this,” Dave cautioned with a slight grimace. 

“So it’s a ghost question,” Klaus connected the dots. The grimace took over Dave’s entire face as he nodded. “Okay.” 

“Really? Are you sure?” Dave asked, still uncertain. 

“I mean,” Klaus started and leaned back against the wall with a sly grin. “If you’re going to pay for lunch you can ask me anything you want.” 

Dave visibly relaxed, worry lines from his expression disappearing as his concern was replaced with an easy smile. “Yeah, okay. Whatever,” he laughed and lightly shoved Klaus’ shoulder. He fake fell sideways until his shoulder hit the wall and he let out an exaggerated groan of pain. 

“David, you would  _ dare?” _ he gasped in fake betrayal, putting a hand on his heart. Dave just laughed harder. Klaus sat up again and asked, “But seriously, what did you wanna talk about?” 

They looked back at the counter as Mary came back and set plates of food down in front of them. 

“Thank you,” Dave muttered and Klaus smiled at her. She didn’t even look at him, eyes stuck on Dave even as she disappeared to the kitchen. Klaus watched her go and bit back a comment about her having a thing for him. Selfish as it was he didn’t want to give Dave any ideas and be stuck there watching it. 

“You’re thinking something,” Dave observed. “Something you don’t really like.” 

“How the fuck can you tell that?” Klaus asked with a laugh. “Seriously, how the fuck? I think I could be sobbing on the floor and most of my family wouldn’t think anything was wrong, but I think one weird thing and you, who’s known me for what, a few months, can fucking tell? Fuck off, man.” 

“Maybe I just pay attention to my friends?” Dave asked incredulously. Klaus shrugged and started cutting off a bite of his waffle. He looked over at Dave and was about to say something else, but Dave beat him to it. “It’s a plain hamburger with two pickles and if you say  _ anything _ I’m gonna be upset,” he declared like a person who heard it a lot and was really tired of being the butt of the joke. 

“I’m not saying anything,” Klaus responded, raising his hands in fake surrender. “Eat what you eat, man.” 

“Thank you,” Dave said with a single firm nod and took a bite of his burger angrily, almost with an attitude, staring down at his plate. 

“So, what  _ did _ you wanna talk about?” Klaus asked again. “What kinda ghost stuff?”

“So… you say there’s something… after?” Dave asked carefully. 

“After being a ghost,” Klaus said. “Like, spirits moving on into the light, kind of after?”

“Yeah, like that, I guess,” Dave said. 

“What about it?” He took another bite of his waffle. 

“So, like, how do people move on? Is it a time thing or a personal choice or religious thing?” Dave asked. 

Oh. Religion. It was one of the things Dave didn’t really talk about in Vietnam, but Klaus knew it was important to him. He knew he was Jewish, he mentioned it casually a few times and some of his family stories took place at holiday gatherings, but Klaus wasn’t sure exactly how deep it went. 

“Are you religious?” he asked tensely. 

Dave nodded. “I try to be,” he said cryptically. 

“It’s complicated?” Klaus asked even though he knew the answer. 

“It's complicated,” Dave confirmed. “I just…” He trailed off and shook his head and took another bite of his burger. 

“You don’t have to get into it,” Klaus comforted him. “I know that’s tricky sometimes.” 

“Yeah, thanks,” Dave said meekly. He took another bite of his burger. 

“Well, it is also a personal thing,” Klaus said in an attempt to steer Dave back to his original question. “Overall, it’s very complicated. I don’t really know how to describe it.” 

“How is it personal?” Dave asked. “Like, when you found my grandfather, you said there is an afterlife, but you don’t know what it is, and people choose if and when they go.” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said with a nod and cut off another bite of his waffle, stabbing it with the intent to eat it right after he finished explaining fully. “It’s everyone’s choice to go, and once you go you can’t come back, so I don’t know what it is.” He ate the waffle bite. Dave nodded thoughtfully. 

“What kind of things influence if someone moves on, do you think?” he asked carefully. Klaus had to think on that one for a moment, so he took yet another bite of his waffle to buy himself time. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” Dave insisted. 

Klaus put a hand over his mouth to hide the food as he spoke. “No, no, that’s not it, I just need to think on it.” 

“Okay,” Dave said and ate a bit more of his own food. 

It was another moment before Klaus spoke again. “I think people decide to move on for their own reasons. Whatever afterlife they think is coming, if they’re waiting for someone, if they’re trying to look after someone or see something through, religion, all that fun stuff.” Dave hummed. He was running out of burger to take a thoughtful bite out of. Klaus was also running out of waffle. 

They continued eating in silence. Dave finished his burger and moved his attention to his fries, but Klaus was slower, caught up in his thoughts. His shoulders slumped as he thought. 

He really was just the ghost guy, wasn’t he? He thought maybe he was real friends with Dave again, Dave even said it himself, but apparently not. Nothing else to say once he had asked his question. 

A part of his brain that sounded suspiciously like Ben even though he knew he wasn’t in the diner said he just wasn’t talking because he was eating. Or he was thinking about what Klaus said. But the Klaus part of his brain told him Dave got what he wanted from him, so why would he keep hanging out with him after this? 

“Why do you spend so much time with me?” Klaus asked meekly. He didn’t look up from his platem just pushed globs of syrup around with his fork.

“What do you mean?” Dave asked and dipped a fry in the ketchup on the side of the plate. 

“I don’t know,” Klaus said with a shrug, still not looking at him. “No one really likes me that much. Even Ben just sticks around because I’m the only person for him to talk to. The guys at the shelter tolerate me because I live there too. You seem to keep hanging out with me and I can’t figure out why. The best thing I can think of is you’re interested in the ghost thing.” 

“Hmm,” Dave hummed and balled up his napkin in his hands. He dropped it onto his empty plate. “Why is it so hard to believe that someone enjoys your company, Klaus?” 

“Because in my experience, they don’t,” Klaus said easily. “At least, not when I’m sober, but I don’t really remember much when I’m fucked up, so…” He trailed off and took another bite of his waffle. 

“Okay, one- that’s horrible. Two- I get that they serve breakfast all day but did you have to get a waffle at almost three in the afternoon?” Dave joked. Klaus finally looked back up at him with a small grin, but it quickly changed to a serious expression and he lowered his fork so the prongs were pressing onto the plate. 

“What do you have against waffles, David?” he asked, tone a little too exaggerated to be serious. 

“Nothing!” Dave said and threw his hands up in fake surrender. “I have nothing against waffles, they are just not an all day food.” 

“And to think, I considered you a friend,” Klaus scoffed and burst out laughing. 

“Shut up,” Dave laughed and lightly shoved Klaus’ shoulder. Klaus bit back another smile and went back to his waffle. “How are you not done yet?” he asked. Klaus shrugged. Really, it was because he lost his appetite at some point in the conversation. Talking about death and ghosts did that sometimes. 

“You two need anything else?” the waitress suddenly asked, reappearing on the other side of the counter. Klaus flinched, not expecting it. 

“No, we’re good,” Dave said and gave her another polite smile. “Can I just get the check?” 

“Yeah,” she said and scrambled for the notebook again. “You paying for you both?” 

“Yes,” Dave said and leaned against the counter top. “ _ Somebody,” _ he said pointedly and gave Klaus a sarcastic look over. “Insists I pay for him.” 

“Hey,” Klaus laughed. “As far as I’m concerned this is a business lunch.” Dave laughed again. “I don’t talk about ghosts for free.” 

“Oh, trust me, I’ve paid you to talk to ghosts, this is cheaper, trust me,” Dave joked. Klaus lightly slapped his arm with the back of his hand. 

“Davey, I am a homeless war vet, doing what I have to to  _ survive _ ,” he said sarcastically. 

“Really?” the waitress asked increduously. Her eyesrows were furrowed in disbelief that was borderline rude and her nose was scrunched up as if she smelled something bad, causnig her lips to curl in a condescending sneer.  _ “You _ served?”

_ “Mary,” _ Dave hissed next to him. Klaus didn’t look away from the waitress- Mary- to see his expression. 

“Yes,” Klaus said firmly and sat up straight in his seat. 

“Oh,” Mary said and looked between the two of them before ripping the page out of the notebook and setting it down in front of Dave, then she walked off again without a word. 

“I can’t believe she-” 

Klaus waved it off and slumped his shoulders again. “I get that a lot.”

“Oh.” 

Klaus let his vision blur as Dave searched his pockets for money, and only brought himself back to reality when Dave lightly set a hand on his arm. 

“You ready?” he asked and Klaus nodded. They both stood up and walked out of the diner without another word. They got halfway down the street before Dave said anything again. 

“Are you doing anything next Friday?” he asked carefully. 

“Nope,” Klaus said with a small smile. “I made a point to not schedule any appointments that day.” 

“Really?” Dave asked, obviously impressed. “Well, well, well. Klaus Hargreeves, given’ himself a day off,” he teased.

“Shut up,” Klaus said and shook his head, breaking into a full grin again. His mood had been all over the place in the last fifteen minutes, but that had been happening to him a lot since he got to the sixties. He guessed that’s what happens when you aren’t numbing yourself with drugs constantly. “I need a distraction from the rest of the shit I have goin’ on, but the whole medium thing is exhausting.” 

“I can imagine,” Dave said, sympathetically. 

“No,” Klaus laughed easily, not wanting Dave to think he was upset by his misunderstanding. “You really can’t, but it’s the thought that c…” His steps slowed and he trailed off as he got a glimpse at a shop window across the street. Dave looked over at him when he fell behind. 

“Hey, Klaus, you okay?” he said softly and followed his line of sight to the flyer in the window Klaus was looking at. 

“Yeah, sorry. I just…” he shook his head and trailed off. “Just remembered something one of the guys said a while ago.” 

“Oh yeah?” Dave said with a smile. “And what was that?”

“That I’ve been so busy with appointments,” he said slowly, eyes still locked on the window. “And people have started showing up for walk-ins. It’s been thrown around a bit that I need somewhere else to work.” As he finished explaining he nodded to the window again. “And right there in that window is a sign with contact information to get that shop space.” 

“Oh, well how convenient,” Dave said sarcastically and dramatically looked back and forth between Klaus and the space again. He gestured across the street. “You should go check it out,” he said seriously. Klaus looked at him, still unsure, but before he was able to say anything Dave was looking down the street and pulling him across the road. “Oh, come on,” he said enthusiastically, hand lightly wrapped around Klaus’ forearm to pull him along but not tight enough to force him. Klaus followed with a small smile. 

He moved into the space a month later. 

*****

He was finally moving out of the shelter. Jimmy told him he was welcome to stay as long as he needed to, and he was sure he would have let him stay longer, but he was one of the only people to stay at the shelter that long. He didn’t tell any of the guys that he wasn’t moving into a house or an apartment or anything people usually move into. Since he was opening the shop, and just decided to get a decent couch for the backroom. He didn’t have much personal stuff to move, but some of the guys offered to help him move the furniture he got for the shop. 

“Ooh,” he squealed and clapped his hands in front of his face in joy and he watched Simmons and Daniels put a desk down in front of the entryway. 

“Yeah,” Daniels grunted as he dropped the desk the last few inches to the ground with a  _ thud. _ “You’re finally movin’ outta the damn shelter, Hargreeves.” 

“Jimmy has been waiting for this day for eight months,” Klaus joked and moved out of the way for Miller to carry a box of decorations for the shop to the door to the back room. 

“Can’t wait till you’re not doin’ this shit in the kitchen anymore,” one of the newer guys, Charlie, said. Charlie had been at the shelter for about three weeks at that point, but Klaus had become well known enough that the kitchen was occupied all times of the days other than what had to be designated as meal times. Klaus figured he was justified in his annoyance, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to say so. 

“Opening October 11,” Klaus said with a click of his tongue and shot Charlie a pair of finger guns. 

“I think things’ll go well for ya,” Daniels said as he looked around the shop. “You ain’t in a terrible neighborhood- could be better, could be worse- and ya got some good shops around ya.” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said and leaned a hip against the desk and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m actually really excited about all this. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about anything.” He finished the statement with a sad laugh. 

“Well, I’m glad’cha got here,” Daniels said and pulled Klaus into an awkward side hug. Klaus tensed for a moment but eventually embraced Daniels back. “I, for one, will be here opening day to talk to Johnny for a bit.” 

“Well, I doubt anybody else is gonna come in here to talk to your kid,” Klaus said and ducked out from under Daniels’ arm. 

“You know what I mean, you jackass.” Daniels lightly punched his shoulder as he spoke. Klaus laughed and walked off to start digging through the boxes of decorations and trinkets. 

A few minutes later they finally got the couch through the doorway to the back room and the rest of the guys headed out, leaving Klaus to set up and decorate with the ghosts. 

“What do you think?” he asked Ben as he held different decorations up to the wall in an attempt to pick a place to put them. 

“What’d you decide for a name?” Ben asked. Klaus turned around and saw he was sitting in the desk chair. 

“The Small Medium,” Klaus answered and gestured to the desk Ben was putting his feet up on. “Could you move that to the reception area?” 

“That’s actually a better name than I was expecting,” Ben said. “And no, I don’t think so.” 

“Really?” he deadpanned. “You can rip a bunch’a dudes apart with your tentacles at the Icarus Theater but you can’t help your brother out by moving a desk?” 

“Are you  _ ever _ going to stop bringing that up when I can’t do something?” Ben asked with a tilt of his head. 

“Nope,” Klaus responded cheerily and turned back to the wall and held up a different picture to the same spot as before. He put the large pictures down on the floor next to each other under the spaces he wanted them on the wall and was about to turn around again to grab the next few pictures, but was stopped by a loud  _ screeeeeech _ from behind him. When he looked back, Ben was glowing and the desk was right where Klaus asked him to put it. 

“Thank you,” he said. Ben’s twisted from a smug grin to a wide smile. “I thought you’d have more to say about the whole business thing, though,” he added. 

“Oh, do you want me to say I’m proud of you?” Ben teased. Klaus laughed but shook his head. 

“No, I thought you’d have more to say about not fucking up the timeline or something,” Klaus said, but tilted his head when he realized Ben hadn’t been giving him much of that crap lately. “Or have you just given up on that?” 

“No, I’ve just realized that by simply being here already changes things,” Ben explained with a shrug. “Might as well enjoy what you can since you’re here.” 

“Oh,” Klaus said and blinked a few times. “That should have been my argument from the beginning. Why the fuck wasn’t that my argument from the beginning?” 

“Klaus please, we both know you’re not smart enough to realize that on your own,” his brother responded with a teasing, sarcastic grin. Klaus scoffed and looked in the box at his feet before picking up a paperweight with a diagram of a hand with the lines and their meaning on it and threw it at him. Ben caught it and threw it right back at him, but Klaus ducked instead of attempting to catch it and it shattered against the wall behind him. 

“Goddamnit,” he hissed and looked at the fractured glass at his feet. “I didn’t realize that was glass.” 

“You’re so fucking stupid,” Ben sighed. 

“Well, don’t say it like it’s news,” Klaus responded and started kicking the glass into a pile with his feet. 

“Put some fucking shoes on for that you fucking dumbass!” Ben yelled. 

“No!” Klaus yelled back. 

“How am  _ I _ the one that died?” Ben asked and threw his arms up. 

“We’ve all been wondering that for years now, Ben.” It wasn’t until after he spoke he realized the last few months of those years has just been the two of them. He focused instead on finding a way to pick up the glass. 

He spent the next week or so out shopping for stuff for the shop. He mostly went to second hand shops or thrift stores, both because it was cheaper and because those were the kind of places he shopped at back home- if he ever actually did any shopping instead of just stealing or picking usable stuff out of garbage bins or left out on sidewalks. He still wasn’t above that now though, the less he spent until things really took off the better. 

He found a  _ huge _ pair of blinds sitting out on someone’s curb next to their trash can waiting to be collected and hauled off. One of the people living in the house saw him looking at them, a middle aged dad type with greying hair and a white button up on, who seemed suspicious about Klaus until he saw the dog tags hanging from his neck, came out and even answered a few of his questions about their size and other shit Ben thought was important, and Klaus ended up taking the blinds back to the shop. Klaus was trying to figure out how to carry the blinds back to the shop, and was even more eager to get out of the man’s presence when a black man drove by the house and the man began yelling obscenities from the yard. 

“Klaus, just go,” Ben said from behind him.

Klaus hefted the blinds into his arms, spread out and bent at the elbows and the surprisingly heavy blinds nestled in his elbow pits, and got out of the man’s sight as fast as he could because of his harsh stare at Klaus’ discomfort at his blatant racism. 

“I hate the fuckin’ sixties,” he muttered under his breath as he walked down the sidewalk. 

“Yeah, you couldn’t say anything to that guy, though,” Ben said, walking slightly behind him so he didn’t get in the way of the blinds. 

“Why not?” Klaus scoffed. 

“Klaus, the guy was clearly about to yell at you until he saw your tags,” Ben explained. “If you said anything chances are he would have done whatever he wanted and justified it with you being so…” He vaguely gestured to Klaus’ entire person as they walked. 

“What?” Klaus asked quietly so no one would overhear him, even though there was nobody else on the street. “So obviously gay?” 

“Yeah,” Ben said. 

Klaus let his head fall back for a few steps as he whined, “I hate the fucking sixties so fucking much.” 

“Not that I like not knowing what happened to them, but I will say I’m glad Allison and Diego aren’t here to deal with this shit. It’d be so much worse for them. That’s why I try not to become visible when we’re out like this.” 

“What?” Klaus asked, half distracted by correcting the slight topping of the blinds in his arms. 

“Well, most of these guys just spent the better part of the last decade associating Korea with war and communism, and are going to get into the same thing with Vietnam,  _ and _ considering the fact that no one bothers telling East Asians apart, a glowing Asian man with occasional tentacles probably isn’t the best idea,” Ben said bitterly. 

“Wait, Korea? Are you Korean?” Klaus asked and turned his head to look at him. 

“Yeah,” he answered. 

“That's cool, how do you know that?” 

“I asked Pogo when we were kids,” Ben replied with a shrug. 

“Oh,” Klaus said and looked back in front of him. “That’s smart. I wonder where I was from.” 

Ben put a hand on his shoulder to get him to stop walking. He turned to his brother with his eyebrows furrowed and a slight frown. “I need you to listen to me,” Ben said, tone so serious Klaus thought he was in apocalyptic trouble again. “Your name is Klaus and Mom taught you German when we were kids. I want you to think about that and then give me your best guess.” 

“Oh, shut up,” Klaus snapped and started walking again. He only got a few more steps before the blinds started tilted again, and he started hobbling to try to fix them. 

He didn’t even notice the truck slowing to a stop next to him until Ben said, “Hey, someone’s stopping.” He lifted his chin toward the road and Klaus turned to follow his gaze. His heart started beating a bit harder when he saw the truck but couldn’t make out the face of the driver because he was opening his door and stepping out of the truck. He relaxed again when the driver turned around to face him. 

“You need some help with that?” Dave asked with a laugh. Klaus smiled at him. 

“Davey, are you followin’ me around?” he joked but took a few steps toward the truck. 

“These for the shop?” Dave asked and met him halfway between the sidewalk and the truck. 

“Yeah,” Klaus answered, letting out a sigh of relief when Dave grabbed one side of the blinds and lifted a lot of the weight from his arms. 

“Here, put it in the back,” Dave said and steered him to the bed of the truck. “I don’t have anything to tie it down,” he added as they carefully pushed the blinds in. “Here, lift ‘em up and rest ‘em against the window and sit back here and hold ‘em. The shop’s not far.” 

“Okay,” Klaus said and hauled himself into the bed of the truck next to the blinds. Dave closed the tailgate when Klaus was out of the way and walked back to the driver’s said to get the truck started again. As Klaus watched him, he saw Ben appear in the passenger seat. Dave smiled at him as he climbed into the truck. 

He banged on the back window behind Ben and yelled through the glass, “You better not be talking about me!” Ben smiled mischievously as Dave gently eased on the gas. 

When they got to the shop Dave helped Klaus get the blinds out of the truck again and ended up holding them by himself when Klaus had to pat his pockets to find the keys to the shop, something Klaus realized he was very excited about- having keys. He pulled the door out and held it open for Dave to carry them in. 

“You have the tools you need to put these up?” Dave asked. 

“Yeah, Ben made sure I got some basic stuff,” Klaus said. 

“And do you know how to put them up?” he continued, looking at Klaus like he knew he won the game. 

“Now that is something different entirely,” Klaus said. “Do you?” he tried and raised his eyebrows. 

“You do realize I work in a hardware store, right?” Dave asked with a grin.

“Riiiight,” Klaus said slowly and nodded his head and continued sarcastically, “I completely forgot about that.” 

“Oh, I’m sure you did,” Dave said just as sarcastically, but then his face softened again. “Sure, I have nothin’ else to do. Buy me a burger and I will gladly put these, and anything else ya need hung up, up.” 

“Awesome,” Klaus said and punched the air victoriously. Dave laughed and Klaus showed him where the tools he got were. Dave took the desk chair and positioned it by one of the windows since Klaus didn’t have a ladder. He quickly got to work with Klaus putting up decorations and pictures and posters up around the space. 

At first, Dave tried talking to Klaus as he went, but when it was clear Klaus didn’t have the focus to keep up a meaningful conversation while he worked Dave just laughed to himself and continued his work, only speaking to acknowledge Klaus’ questions about which decoration looked best in that spot. Sooner than Klaus expected, Dave moved the chair to put the other set of blinds up on the window on the other side of the door. Eventually, Klaus moved on to making sure he had enough stuff to do some painting and make signs to put up around the shop with things like prices and general  _ I will not summon famous people for you _ messages on them. 

Suddenly all the natural light faded from the room, leaving the two of them in late afternoon shadows. 

“You have working blinds,” Dave announced with a grin. 

“Yay!” Klaus cheered. 

Dave stepped away from the windows, leaving them closed. “What are you doing now?” 

“Just getting ready to paint some signs to put up,” Klaus answered. 

“What kinda signs?” 

“Ya know, prices, to talk to the ghosts and not me, I will not summon cead celebrities. That kinda stuff,” Klaus said. 

“People have asked for that?” Dave asked incredulously. Klaus opened his eyes and glared up at him through his eyelashes, nodding solemnly. 

“Wow,” Dave said. 

“Sure,” Klaus started again. “It was mostly my siblings greatly misunderstanding the whole thing, but I’m still preparing for the worst,” he joked and stood up. 

“Your own siblings asked you that?” Dave asked. 

“Yeah,” Klaus said with a shrug as if it didn’t bother him and leaned back against the wall. “I was never really good for much other than being the ghost guy, but I couldn’t figure out how to do anything with it.”

“You know that isn’t true, right?” he said softly, expression suddenly sobering as he leaned next to Klaus. 

“What do you mean?” Klaus replied, voice just as soft as Dave’s. 

“You’re not just the ghost guy,” he said. “You’re a lot more than that, Klaus.” Klaus took a small step toward him. 

Then Dave was leaning forward, toward him, and Klaus wanted to let him  _ so _ badly, but Ben’s voice echoed through his head.  _ This isn’t fair to either of you _ . He pulled back before Dave’s lips could touch his. 

“Dave, I…” He trailed off when he got a look at Dave’s face. He’d looked up just in time to watch the confused expression of furrowed eyebrows and a slight frown drop and be replaced by wide eyes and lips parted a little in fear. 

“Shit, I’m sorry, I-” he hurried to apologize, probably scared of whatever Klaus was going to do next. Fuck, Klaus didn’t want him to be afraid, and he rushed to explain why he pulled away from him. 

“No, no, no,” he said quickly. “It’s not… Sorry, I just can’t.” He squeezed his eyes closed and shook his head. He opened his eyes a few seconds later but didn’t look back up at Dave, instead electing to start at his feet. 

“So… it’s not that you don’t…” Dave started and trailed off awkwardly, and even without looking at him Klaus knew what he meant. 

“What? That I don’t like men?” Klaus scoffed and shook his head. “Please, I think anyone with eyes would be able to tell that I do.” 

Dave let out a shaky breath next to him. “So, it’s just  _ me _ you don’t like?” 

“What? No!” Klaus said quickly, finally looking up at him. Dave wasn’t leaning against the wall anymore, obviously having decided at some point after Klaus’ rejection to put some space between the two of them. Dave bit his bottom lips and furrowed his eyebrows again. Klaus sighed and said, “Look, there’s just a lot you don’t know, and it wouldn’t be fair if I let you do anything like that.”  _ If I let you kiss me like that. _

Dave clicked his tongue, and when Klaus didn’t say anything else he asked, “Like what?” 

“What do you mean?” Klaus asked in response. 

“Look, Klaus,” Dave started and shook his head with a light laugh. He leaned toward Klaus again, just the tiniest bit, as he spoke. “If this is just about me not knowing something, then tell me.” Klaus laughed bitterly and shook his head. “Tell me and let me decide for myself, because I-” He cut himself off suddenly. He laughed again, a bit hysterically this time, and Klaus couldn’t blame him. “Klaus, I…” Apparently he didn’t know how he wanted to finish the sentence. 

Klaus eyed him as he considered. That’s what he agreed on with Ben, right? That he shouldn’t try to take things further than friendship with Dave because of everything Dave didn’t know. But Klaus hadn’t made a move,  _ Dave did. _ And now he wanted to know everything Klaus hadn’t already said. 

Klaus wanted to tell him. God, he wanted to. He wanted to sit down and tell Dave every detail, to beg him to ignore his draft card when it arrives in a few years, beg him to rip it up or burn it or just refuse to go because it would  _ save his life _ and that was all Klaus wanted. To save his life. To stop him from dying him his arms on a pointless hill in Vietnam fighting for a bullshit cause. That would make things fair, right? And if Dave still wanted this there wouldn’t be a reason to stop him? 

And Ben wasn’t here to stop him; he wasn’t sure where the fuck he was but suddenly he was mentally thanking every force at work in the universe that he wasn’t there. 

“Okay,” he said softly before Ben could suddenly reappear and scold him for it. Dave perked up, a small grin spreading on his face and his shoulder rising from their slight slump they’d previously sunk into. “Okay,” Klaus repeated. “But if I start I can’t stop. You have to listen to all of it- no matter how weird it gets.” 

“Okay,” Dave agreed quickly. “Yeah, yeah, you get through all of it before I do anything else.” 

“Okay,” Klaus said and looked back down at his feet with a single firm nod. “Okay,” he said again and sank to the floor, sitting with his legs crossed and his back against the wall. Dave sat down next to him, looking at him expectantly. “God,” Klaus muttered and put his face in his hands. “It’s all so messed up I don’t even know where to start.” 

“How about the beginning,” Dave suggested softly. 

“Stop suggesting reasonable things,” Klaus said. He meant it as a joke, but even he could hear the snap in his voice. Dave didn’t seem to mind, just laughing softly in response. “Okay, so I think I need to start with the fact that I’m from the future,” he said quickly, deciding just to spit it out and get it over with. He looked over at Dave warily, who didn’t seem too affected by the news. “Really, nothin’ to say to that?” he questioned with a small shrug. 

Dave shrugged back. “Klaus I’ve seen you find ghosts and make them visible just by them being present, excuse me for not freaking out too much over that one.” 

“Okay,” Klaus said and looked away from him, his response honestly leaving him reeling. “So, me and Ben ended up here because one of our other brothers was trying to take us back in time to stop the apocalypse.” 

“The apocalypse?” Dave questioned. “Like the end of the world?” 

“Yeah,” Klaus nodded. “The end of the world. One of my sisters blew up the moon,” he added. 

Dave held up a hand to stop him. “What?” he asked. “One brother can time travel and one sister can blow things up?” 

Klaus sighed. “Okay, hold on, let me backup even more.” 

“Yeah, please,” Dave said. 

Klaus reached up to rub his temples as he started again. “So, me and my siblings were all adopted after we were all born on October 1, 1989.” 

“1989?” Dave repeated, awed. 

“1989,” Klaus confirmed with another nod. “We were all born- magically isn’t the word but I don’t really know what is- so, suddenly at the same time on the same day women who were most definitely  _ not _ pregnant a few seconds before go into labor. Pop out seven weird, miracle babies.” He looked over at Dave, who was watching him intensely. Klaus raised his eyebrows, expecting him to ask  _ something _ about that. 

“I think I’ve decided to just let you get through this part of the story before I ask anything,” Dave explained. 

Klaus tilted his head. “Yeah that’s probably a good idea.” 

“Yeah,” Dave nodded and gestured for Klaus to continue. 

“So, we’re all born out of fucking no where- still no explaination for that, by the way- so dear old Reggie Hargreeves swoops in and snatches us all up. I don’t know how he fucking knew this, but because we all have fucking powers. I,” he put his hand on his chest, “have all this ghost bullshit.” Dave snorted but didn’t say anything. “Luther has super strength, Diego curves shit he throws, Allison has like mind control or reality manipulation or something like that- I don’t fucking know what they called it I was done paying attention by the time Dad settled on something- Five can teleport and kinda time travel but like, really badly. Ben has a monster living in his stomach, and while we were growing up we all thought Vanya didn’t have anything, but we find out later that he does have something. Again, no idea what we’re actually calling it, but essentially she was capable of blowing up the moon and ending the world.” He paused for a moment to see if this was when Dave decided to start asking questions. 

“You have a brother named Five?” was what he decided on, which would not have been Klaus’ first question, but whatever. 

“Technically none of us had real names until we got a nanny that stuck around long enough for us to start calling her ‘Mom,’” Klaus explained. Dave looked horrified. “Dad called us by numbers.” 

“Can I kill this guy?” Dave asked casually. 

“Well, the next part of the story is very satisfying,” Klaus said and casually added, “He died. The next stage of all this bullshit starts at his funeral.” 

“Oh, okay,” Dave said and put his elbow on his knee and his chin on his hand. “Cool. Fuck you, Reggie.” 

“That’s the spirit,” Klaus laughed. “Anyway, when we were kids Five went missing. He wanted to time travel but got in a fight with Dad who kept saying he wasn’t ready, and unfortunately, dear ol’ dad was right. Five jumped to the future after the apocalypse and lived for like forty years as the last person on Earth. This is where I kinda get lost on how or why, but eventually he ends up back home right after Dad died. Turns out, one side effect of crappy time travel is getting stuck in your pre-pubescent body, so little Number Five is 58 but suddenly looks thirteen again.” 

“Thaaaat’s gotta suck,” Dave interjected. 

“Yeah, and now he’s rambling on and on about how we have to save the world,” Klaus said. 

“Why you guys specifically?” Dave asked, not moving from his scrunched- up- on- himself position. 

“Oh, because when Dad adopted us he started raising us and training us to use our powers as superheroes,” Klaus explained casually with a dismissive wave of his hand. “But-” 

“Nope, sorry, we’re not moving past that that easily,” Dave said and raised the hand that wasn’t supporting his chin in the air. “What the fuck?” 

“I have as many questions as you do, trust me,” Klaus said. “But somehow he knew the world was gonna end and we were gonna have to stop it.” 

“Okay, fuck,” Dave said and closed his eyes again. “Yeah, let’s just move on. Continue.” He opened his eyes as Klaus started again. 

“So yeah, we’re all off doing our own shit and Five’s trying to wrangle us up like cats into a team,” Klaus said. “Oh, and he got back to our time, 2019 is where I’m from, by the way-” 

“Hold on?  _ 2019?” _ Dave asked incredulously, mouth and eyes wide open. 

“I told you I’m from the future!” Klaus cried. 

“Yeah, but hearing a year almost sixty years in the future fucked me up a bit,” Dave countered. 

“I told you I was born in 1989!” Klaus said. “I am a fully grown adult! When were you expecting me to be from?” 

“I don’t know! This is a lot to take in!” 

“That’s a fair point!” 

“Then why are we yelling?” Dave yelled. 

“I don’t know, I think I’m as fucked up by this as you are! I was not prepared to get into all this today!” 

“Fair enough! Maybe we should stop yelling!” 

They both paused and let out a huff of breath as they stopped yelling. They looked at each other and dissolved into fits of giggles. 

“I’m sorry,” Dave wheezed. “I don’t- I don’t know why I’m laughing. Time travel and the end of the world are- are  _ not _ laughing matters.” 

“This is all just so fucking weird,” Klaus said through his own laughter. “Sometimes the only thing you can do is laugh.” 

“Yeah, I guess,” Dave said. They took a moment to try to sober up and stop laughing. Dave took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Okay, keep going,” he said calmly and stoically. 

“Okay,” Klaus said, biting back a laugh. 

“Oh, don’t you dare,” Dave yelled and started laughing again. 

“Okay, okay, I’m gonna keep going because that comes next is definitely gonna make you stop laughing,” Klaus decided through even more laughter. 

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Dave said, already calming down a bit. 

“Okay, so Five ended up coming back to 2019 because he ended up working for this group- he just kept calling them The Commission- and they worked  _ ‘preserving the timeline.’” _ He made air quotes with his fingers as he said that, still not entirely sure exactly what it meant. “But he was trying to change things and stop the apocalypse, so!” He held up a finger and sat up straighter to make a point. “Some weird dudes came and attacked our house looking for him.” 

“What the fuck?” Dave asked yet again. 

“Exactly!” Klaus yelled. “And Five wasn’t even there! And I was distracted and didn’t know anyone was there and they took me fucking hostage.” Dave’s face fell as soon as the words came out of his mouth. “Told ya it would make you stop laughing,” he added meekly after a second. 

“What happened?” Dave asked softly. 

Klaus bit his lip. “They held me hostage for a few days. Tortured me to try to get something about Five from me.” 

_ “Fuck, _ Klaus,” Dave said. Klaus just shrugged. 

“I got out eventually,” he said and let out a shaky breath. He was approaching the part of the story he was really scared to get into. Vietnam. “I took their time machine thing. I didn’t know what it was, but I thought I could take it and pawn it for some money or something like that. It looked like a briefcase, ya know, like the ones business guys carry to work, so maybe there was money in it. But when I opened it…” 

“You ended up here?” Dave guessed when he didn’t finish his sentence. 

“No, not here,” Klaus corrected. “I ended up in 1968.” 

“‘68?” Dave echoed. 

“Yeah,” Klaus said, then added lowly, “In Vietnam.” 

“Oh,” Dave said softly. Klaus looked up at him and was able to see the exact moment he realized the significance  _ “Oh.” _ Klaus looked abc down at his hands and didn’t say anything. 

“That’s where you served, isn’t it?” 

Klaus nodded. “I didn’t tell any of the guys at the shelter about it,” Klaus explained. “I don’t know how I would.” 

“Fuck, Klaus, that’s-”

“There’s more I need to get through so, please,” Klaus cut him off sharply. “Please just let me get through this part.” 

“Yeah, of course,” Dave said softly. “Sorry.” And he  _ was _ sorry. He wasn’t upset with Klaus for interrupting him or the harshness of his tone. Already the same Dave. 

“So, when I was there…’ he continued softly as his hand went up to grip the dog tags around his neck. “I met this guy.” He could see Dave’s posture change out of the corner of his eye. “We served together, and it eventually became more.” He looked up at Dave again to see him watching him with wide, curious eyes. “And about ten months after I got there, we were out on the front lines… and he died.” 

Dave closed his eyes and pressed his lips into a tight line. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. 

“I love him more than anything,” Klaus muttered and his eyes began to sting and his vision blurred. “He’s the only person I ever truly loved more than myself. Which on one hand, might not be saying much because I honestly don’t like myself very much, but I still am a selfish asshole.” 

“Klaus, don-” Dave tried, but Klaus didn’t stop. 

“I love him and he died in my arms,” he said and Dave hissed softly next to him. Tears fell down his cheeks as he kept going. “And the main reason I didn’t just go home at first was because I didn’t know how to use the briefcase to get home, but then I fell in love with him and it didn’t really matter, but after he died I thought  _ fuck it, _ and just opened the damn thing, there wasn’t anything left for me there. And I ended up in my own time, just a few hours after I left.” He wiped his eyes and sniffled. 

“Klaus, before, you said you’d only been out of the shit a few days before you ended up at Jimmy’s,” Dave said, the concern in his voice making it sound more like a question than a simple observation. 

“Yeah,” Klaus said, ashamed of the way his voice broke. “Four days later the world ended, and my brother tried to get us out of there and I ended up stranded here. Huey found me on the street outside that annoying diner less than an hour after I got here. Newly sober with no place to stay.” 

“Sober?” Dave questioned softly. “I get that it’s a big deal and it’s something for you to be proud of, but why the fuck did you get sober  _ then _ ?” 

“When I was a teenager, maybe not even, I learned that when I was wasted or high off my ass I didn’t see the ghosts anymore,” Klaus laughed. Dave furrowed his eyebrows again. “I know since I made it a business, started making money off of it, it doesn’t seem that bad, but…” He shook his head as he tried to explain. “They’re always here,” he settled on. He raised his hands up by his ears, not quite touching them, and shook his hands. “And they’re so loud,  _ all the time, _ and I just wanted it to  _ stop. _ But I got back and he was gone.” 

“You were trying to find him,” Dave realized softly. 

“Yeah,” Klaus scoffed. “And I couldn’t do it the way I can now, so it didn’t work.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“And I got caught up in all my family’s bullshit and didn’t get to try anymore. Then the end of the world happened, and in a last ditch effort to stop it my brother took the whole family on a little time travel trip, but I’m the only one who ended up here.” He paused and considered. “Well, me and Ben did,” he corrected with a tilt of his head. “Thrown into a time where he isn’t dead, so I can’t find him.” 

“But, he’s actually alive now,” Dave said and leaned toward him, eyes wide in desperation which absolutely shocked Klaus. He had just tried to kiss him but was now invested in Klaus’ dead boyfriend, which -because Klaus’ life wasn’t already complicated enough- was him in about eight years. “You can find him.” 

“Ben keeps talking about not fucking up the timeline, or more of the time traveling- torturing assassins might come after me,” Klaus said and shook his head. “Or him,” he added quickly before Dave could say anything else. “And besides, there isn’t much I can do about it now anyway. He’s drafted in ‘67, got shipped out like a month before I got there, can’t think of anything that would stop it this early.” 

Dave leaned forward and dragged his hands down his face. “Fuck,” he said. 

“I mean, not that I really paid much attention to history in school, I was too busy getting high and avoiding my father, but I know there’s going to be a resistance to the draft within a few years. Guys getting their draft cards in the mail and throwing them away or burning them and refusing to go,” Klaus said. “He even told me the first time around he considered it, but until then I’ve been doing some anti-war stuff with a few other guys. I know that gets big but again, I still have a while to wait for that.” 

“Fuck, I’m sorry Klaus,” Dave said softly. “I really,  _ really _ am. If I knew I wouldn’t have-” 

“Stop, Dave,” Klaus said weakly and waved a hand. He did, and Klaus pursed his lips and slowly pulled the dog tags from around his neck. It was now or never, and he couldn’t stand the idea of it being never. “Here, these are his,” he said and held them out to Dave. 

“Should I really-” 

“Dave, please just read them.” His hands started to shake, the movements amplified by the chain in his hand. “I promise, it’ll make a lot more sense. And whatever you have to say about it I’ll respect, I just need you to see it.” 

Dave looked at him, wary and unsure. Klaus shook the tags around as if Dave was a cat that could be tricked into taking a toy to play with. Dave looked down from his eyes to the dog tags and slowly began to reach out for them. As soon as he had them in his grasp Klaus let go of them and moved the hand to his lap. He looked away from Dave and down at his hands, refusing to see Dave’s face when he let out a soft, “Oh.” 

Klaus squeezed his eyes shut and dropped his head so his chin was against his chest. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. 

“Wha- no,” Dave said and leaned toward him. “It’s just a lot, like… wow.” Klaus bit his bottom lip again and squeezed his eyes shut. Dave exhaled and continued, “Would you have told me this if I didn’t try to kiss you just now?” Klaus shook his head. “Why not?” 

“How would I have done that?” Klaus asked, voice shaking. “And Ben kept going on about how I shouldn’t change things. I mean I was gonna, like, gently nudge you more toward the ‘burning your draft card when it showed up’ thing, but I couldn’t really try anything more than that without Ben yelling at me,” he’d already said all this but it felt worth repeating. 

Dave nodded and looked down at the dog tags in his hand-  _ his own dog tags. _ “Okay,” Dave said. “What else?” he asked softly. 

“What do you mean?” Klaus asked. 

“You said there was stuff I had to hear,” Dave clarified. “What else is there?” 

“Tha- that was it,” Klaus said and shook his head. “You expected there to be more than  _ that?” _

Dave scooted forward rather ungracefully on the floor and leaned in toward Klaus said. “If that was it, I’m gonna try this again, okay?” 

Klaus almost asked what he was doing, and was only stopped when Dave started leaning in again. 

_ Oh.  _

He let him this time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okaaaaay here we go pls talk to me about tua on tumblr @ lastyoungrene-gay-de  
> i hope i didn't over step any lines  
> i made ben korean because justin min is korean  
> and im not sure when i'll be able to update again but i promise you guys im always thinking about this fic


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I KNOW IT'S BEEN MORE THAN A MONTH IM SORRY SHIT GOT BUSY  
> this chapter is literally just like a year and a half's worth of domestic fluff. the next chapter is gonna focus on two or three things with a few more time jumps then the next one is gonna be when the s2 plot really picks up

Klaus turned the lock and pushed the door open, taking a confident step out of the shop as he did. He inhaled deeply as if the street was going to smell any different today than any other day, that it would suddenly smell unlike motor oil from the mechanic on the corner and the neighboring shop’s garbage they left out on the wrong day of the week again. He reminded himself that just because it was a big day for him didn’t mean it was a big day for everyone else, he reminded himself as he grabbed the large rock on the ground just outside to prop the door open. 

Opening day didn’t mean as much to anyone other than him, so he was going to have to be the one who enjoyed it. It wasn’t long after he opened the door and switched his cute little sixties “open/ closed” sign around for the first time that his first appointment showed up. A man in his late twenties or early thirties hoping to talk to his grandfather, not unlike Dave. 

The thought of Dave made Klaus’ lips twitch into a smile. It had been a few weeks since Dave tried to kiss him. Since Klaus didn’t let him. Since he told him everything. Since he tried to kiss him again. And since Klaus let him that time. 

“I’m surprised you told him the truth,” Ben had said later that night when Dave was gone. 

“I couldn’t lie to him about it,” Klaus responded softly. “Not again.”

Last time around, in Vietnam, Klaus hadn’t told Dave everything. After a while, he eventually opened up about the ghosts and how that was the reason behind all the drugs, but he never told him about the future or the briefcase or the time travel. After he went back to his own time, he couldn’t help but wonder if Dave would have left with him, just gotten out of there, but he was too scared to ask. As much as he doubted Dave would flat out reject him, he wasn’t sure Dave would be willing to drop everything to go with him. If he was willing to go Klaus wouldn’t have had to watch him die. 

Now it looked like that wouldn’t be necessary at all. His smile grew even more at the realization. 

He was kind of surprised by the steady trickle of customers he got through the morning. He did have appointments spread out across the morning, but he actually got some walk in customers. That was the part that surprised him. He’d spent the last few weeks listening to the guys at the shelter telling him that the business wasn’t going to take off right away. Things were going to be slow and he had come to terms with that, but they were actually better than he expected. Apparently he was under estimating the value of word of mouth advertisement. 

“Holy shit man,” Ben said at the end of the day after the last customer had left. 

“That went so much better than I expected,” Klaus laughed. He started walking around the shop, not entirely sure what he was doing or what he was supposed to be doing. 

“Hey.” Klaus looked up at the squeak of the door opening and a familiar voice a few minutes later. He smiled as the door slowly shut behind Dave. 

“Hi,” he said and gestured to the door. “Could you flip the sign? We just closed.” 

“Yeah, sure,” Dave said and spun on his heels to take the few steps back to the door. He quickly made his way back and turned the sign around. Klaus grinned as he pulled the blinds down too so no one could see through the door’s window. Dave turned back around with a small smile on his own face. 

“How was the big day?” Dave asked when he reached Klaus and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Klaus leaned into his side with a laugh. 

“Pretty good,” he answered. “I didn’t have to find any gruesome deaths and I managed to make the few of them that found me on their own go away so… pretty successful day. Better than my first appointment at the shelter.” He added the last sentence with a shrug. 

“That doesn’t sound fun,” Dave muttered and pulled Klaus a little closer before letting his arm fall. Klaus took a step away and around the desk with another shrug. 

“I see a lot of car accidents, stuff like that.” He heard Dave let out a sigh he was obviously trying to keep inaudible, and when he turned back to him he saw him shifting awkwardly. “Oh, god, what did I say?” he asked. 

Dave looked pointedly back up at him. “What do you mean?” 

“The sighing and the…” he trailed off and waved a hand toward Dave in general. “I don’t know. I said something didn’t I?Fuck was it the car crash thing? Because I don’t have to say stuff like that. I  _ know _ people don’t wanna hear about that side of this shit.” 

He really shouldn’t have said anything about that. Fuck. He was just so used to people being okay with hearing about the ghosts now that he let it slip out. He’d have to watch his mouth about that shit again, but he could get back used to it. 

“No, it’s not that,” Dave said quickly and took another step toward him. “It’s not that I don’t wanna hear that,” he insisted. 

“Oh,” Klaus said. Even he could hear the defeat and confusion in his voice. “Then what is it?” 

“It’s just…” Dave trailed off. “It’s hard to hear about when you say shit like that so casually. And it’s not even so much to hear it, but knowing you had to go through it.” 

Oh. Not what Klaus was expecting. He was used to the idea of Dave saying nice things like that to him, but it had been so long since he’d really experienced it. Sure, the guys always said stuff about how all the ghost shit must have sucked and before Dave was always nice to him about it, but this was different somehow. There was something about the way he said now that Klaus knew it would mean more. It was something he missed. 

“Aww, Davey,” he teased instead of saying any of that. He took a few loose steps over to Dave and wrapped his arms around his neck and leaned back so he was looking up at Dave with a sly grin. “You worried about me?” 

Dave rolled his eyes but wrapped his arms around Klaus’ waist anyway. “Yes, I thought we’d established I worry about you, babe.” Klaus’ turned to one more of genuine happiness than teasing and leaned forward to kiss him. Dave met him halfway, and they grinned against each other’s lips as Dave tightened his arms around him. 

“I know, I’m just still trying to get used to it,” Klaus muttered when he pulled away after a moment. He gently twisted his finger in the hair on the nape of his neck. 

“What are you doing tonight?” Dave asked softly. 

“Some of the guys wanted to get dinner to celebrate or something,” Klaus laughed and stepped out of Dave’s arms. “Which I think is weird since they just got rid’a me, but…” 

“Klaus, some people actually enjoy your company,” Dave said lightly. 

Klaus shrugged. “I think they also wanna talk about some movement stuff, but I never paid enough attention to anything to be of much help there.” 

“Movement?” Dave repeated as his eyebrows furrowed. 

“Anti-war stuff,” Klaus said and leaned against the desk awkwardly, staring down at his calendar as if it had changed in the last few minutes. 

“Never paid much attention?” Dave asked. 

“That was Ben’s thing,” Klaus laughed. “And Luther’s, I guess. Anything to suck up to Dad was his thing, but everythingI told you about what I know came from Ben.” 

Dave nodded. He nodded as if that was just the way things were, hearing your boyfriend from the future talk about protests that haven’t happened for a war that isn’t in the public’s eye because they were all thinking about another equally pointless war already going on that he didn’t even know about it and anything he already said came from his dead ghost brother. 

“Give it a few years and there’ll be more to do with it all,” Klaus said and shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t mean to-” 

“Klaus, stop apologizing for things being weird,” Dave said. 

“I make them weird,” he said. 

“Things are weird anyway,” Dave insisted. 

“Whatever,” Klaus said. “Anyway, you wanna come to dinner?” 

“Am I invited?” Dave asked. Klaus knew his attempt to change the topic was obvious, but he was glad Dave didn’t say anything about it. 

“Well, they told me to invite some friends, and…” He looked up at him with another smile. “I would definitely say you qualify.” 

“Oh thank god,” Dave said sarcastically and put a hand on his chest dramatically. “I’m so relieved I qualify as a friend.” 

“Shut up,” Klaus whined, making Dave laugh. 

“Yeah, I’ll go to dinner with you guys,” he said through his laughter. 

“Well now I don’t know if I want you to go,” Klaus fake pouted. “Not now that I know you’re gonna tease me the whole time.” 

“No, I’ll be nice I promise,” Dave laughed. Klaus finally dropped the act and laughed with him. He moved to wrap his arms around him again, and Dave did the same before Klaus jumped away at the sound of a different voice. 

“You two are dumb, di you know that?” Ben said, standing right behind Klaus with his arms crossed and an unimpressed expression. Klaus sucked in an exaggerated breath and put his hand over his heart. 

“Christ on a cracker, Ben,” he said. “Warn a guy.” 

“How?” Ben cried. “What am I supposed to do to warn you?” 

“I don’t know,” Klaus shrugged. “Ooh! I could get you a bell like a cat.” 

“No,” Ben deadpanned. 

“You’re no fun.” 

“Whatever, dumbass.” 

“And why do you call me that this time?” Klaus asked exasperatedly. 

“The fucking door’s unlocked,” Ben said and gestured toward the shop’s front door. “And pretty much anyone can walk in her and watch you make out with your boyfriend. In 1960.” Klaus stuck his tongue out but still stepped away from Dave, who seemed disappointed. 

“Door’s unlocked,” he sighed as an explanation. 

Dave eyed the door then looked back at Klaus. “What if I wanted to risk that?” 

“Oh, god, he’s as dumb as you,” Ben sighed and dragged his hands down his face. “I hate this.” And he walked off, leaving Klaus alone with Dave and confused. He looked at the spot his brother had been for another few seconds with his eyebrows furrowed then turned back to Dave. 

“He says we’re dumb,” he said simply. 

“Can’t say I disagree,” Dave said with a tilt of his head, then grimaced a bit sarcastically. “Can’t say I’m gonna change, either.” Klaus laughed loudly, throwing his head back, and walked over to Dave. He pulled him close and planted a kiss on his cheek before speaking again. 

“Come on,” he said and pulled him toward the door. “Let’s go get dinner.” 

Things just kind of… passed after that. Life, surprisingly, didn’t throw tons of new, crazy, complicated shit at him. He  _ lived. _ He lived a life that wasn’t foggy from drug use, despite how he still sometimes got the urge to find something. He had a business that was slowly but steadily growing. He lived a life with friends, or at least acquaintances who were nice to him and didn’t treat him like shit all the time. He had Dave again, who knew everything and didn’t think he was crazy and still actually liked him. 

It all made him just laugh sometimes. Who would’ve thought sending Klaus Hargreeves to the 1960s for the second time would actually kind of straighten his fucking life out? Not Klaus fucking Hargreeves that’s for sure. 

Sure, he lived in the back room of a business’ office space, but it was  _ his _ business. He was sleeping on a couch but it wasn’t a back alley. He was sober for the first time since he was a teenager. He wasn’t lying to everyone. Okay, he was lying to  _ some _ people, but not everyone! And now it was more lying by omission than actually lying. He had more control over his powers than he ever had before. He didn’t want to jinx it, but it seemed like his life was actually… good. 

Like now, sprawled out on the couch in Dave’s one bedroom apartment, leaning against the arm on one side with his legs stretched out over Dave’s lap. 

“So I was what, 34 the first time around?” Dave asked, grabbing Klaus’ hand as he did. 

“Yeah,” Klaus said. 

“Hmm,” Dave hummed. “It’s weird. To think of being older than you.” 

“And you were wise beyond your years then too,” Klaus teased. 

“Shut up,” Dave laughed, then his smile fell a little. “Am I different?” 

Klaus squeezed his hand. “What do you mean?”

“This me and the me in the future, are we different?” He looked nervous as he asked. Klaus reached up and brushed a few stray hairs out of his eyes as he considered how to answer.

“In some ways,” he eventually settled on. “It’s funny, sometimes I’ll see you do something or you’ll say something, and I’ll see the Dave I knew before.” He shook his head a little and huffed out a breath. “Sure, some things are different- I know what your favorite book is even though it isn’t even out yet, or the slang you used then isn’t really popular yet- but when it comes down to who you really  _ are, _ no. You’re not different.” Dave hummed and nodded thoughtfully. “I know it’s probably weird,” Klaus added. 

“What? That you dated a future version of me and just told me about it when I asked?” Dave said half jokingly. When Klaus didn’t answer, he continued, “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to think of it more as you’d had a boyfriend before, the fact that it was also me wasn’t really relevant.” Klaus couldn’t hold back his laughter, and he leaned forward and rested his forehead on Dave’s shoulder. He was gostled a bit as Dave moved his hands as he gestured when he added, “What? Is there another way to handle this?” 

“I don’t know,” Klaus said and looked back up. 

“Well then don’t laugh at me for it,” Dave laughed and brought a hand up to cup Klaus’ cheek. He pulled him closer and Klaus accepted the kiss willingly. 

*****

They’re back in Dave’s apartment a few weeks later. They always seem to end up at Dave’s apartment, though it’s not like they can really go anywhere else. As much as Klaus loved and was proud of the shop, being there all day, hanging out with Dave there, and sleeping in the backroom was not his ideal daily routine. Not that Klaus had actually told Dave he was living there, but he seemed to realize Klaus was spending a lot of time there and wanted to get out some.

So, they’d fallen into a routine of Dave meeting Klaus at the shop around closing time and they’d go to Dave’s apartment. Sometimes they would stop somewhere and eat, sometimes Dave would cook, sometimes Klaus would (try to) cook, but either way it became their norm pretty quickly. 

Klaus was shocked by how well he fell into the pattern of it all, but he loved it. Laughing in the small kitchen when he burned something, Dave wrapping his arms around his waist from behind and pressing a kiss to the side of his neck, falling asleep on the couch while talking and having to wake up early and rush to the shop to make sure he was there in time to open. 

And here he was again, drowsy on the couch pressed to Dave’s side with his arm around his shoulders, and- 

“I love you,” Dave mumbled as Klaus was drifting off to sleep again. 

“Mmm, love you too,” he replied and nestled into Dave’s side even more. 

He woke up the next morning in bed rather than on the couch. That wasn’t unusual, Dave would usually carry him to bed when he fell asleep on the couch because the couch was uncomfortable. What  _ was _ unusual was the time. 

_ “Shit,” _ he hissed and scrambled up out of bed. He darted to the bathroom to look in the mirror and get an idea of what his hair looked like. It was just as much of a wild mess as usual, and he tried tucking strands behind his ears before giving up and checking the clock again.  _ “Fuck.” _

“Klaus?” he heard Dave’s voice come from the bedroom, still rough with sleep. 

“I’m gonna be late to open,” Klaus said as he ran back into the room. 

“Shit what time is it?” Dave asked and slowly sat up. 

“Ten ‘till nine,” Klaus said. 

“Fuck,” Dave groaned and stood up. “Do you want me to drive you over there?”

“That would be fucking amazing,” Klaus said and ran to the living room to find the shoes he’d kicked off as soon as he got there the night before. 

“Yeah, give me two minutes to brush my teeth,” Dave responded and ducked into the bathroom. Klaus smiled as he pulled his shoes on. 

When Dave dropped him off, Klaus absentmindedly squeezed his hand and reached for the door handle. 

“Thanks for driving me,” he said. 

“Yeah, it’s no problem at all,” Dave waved it off. “I have to go talk to Brian about somethin’ anyway.” 

“Oooh, have fun with that,” Klaus said sarcastically and let go of his hand. 

“Oh, I’m sure I will,” Dave deadpanned. “I’ll see you later. Love you.” 

“Yeah, love you too,” Klaus said and pushed the truck’s door open. After he closed the door he leaned down to smile at Dave through the window. He smiled back before throwing the car in gear and driving off. 

Klaus couldn’t wipe the smile off his face as he got his keys out and struggled with the door handle he still hadn’t fixed. 

“When did you get a chance to change?” Dave asked later that day when he met him for dinner at the diner across the street later that night. 

“Oh,” Klaus said with a shrug. “All my stuff is at the shop.” Dave furrowed his eyebrows and took a sip from his drink.

“What do you mean?” he asked when Klaus didn’t elaborate.

“I live in the back room,” Klaus said. “Sleep on the couch. It’s not the most comfortable but at least I’m not paying two rents.” 

Dave didn’t miss a beat before he said, “You can move in with me if you want.” 

Klaus looked over at him. “Really?” 

“Yeah,” Dave shrugged. “You’re already at my place most of the time, I don’t see why not.” 

Klaus smiled at him. “Yeah, that’d be nice.” 

The next day Klaus packed everything in the back room into boxes and loaded it onto Dave’s truck. 

Naturally his first night living with Dave he had a nightmare. 

It wasn’t unusual; between the ghosts, sobriety, the war, and the time travel trip where he lost his family Klaus had nightmares most nights. Nightmares were fine, he’d always had nightmares; what he couldn’t do anymore was all of them at once. 

Because he was running and they were screaming and reaching out for him. Faces with their mouths open in strangled, gurgled, blood choked screams. Then he started recognizing the faces. Huey, Jimmy, Simmons, Daniels, Morris, Lang, Maddox, Hues, Dave, Vanya, Ben, Luther, Diego, Five Allison. All reaching out for him, trying to grab him. All screaming. He was running but he didn’t know where he was. 

One second he was in the jungle in Vietnam, then he turned around a tree and he was in the foyer at the Academy, running toward the door. He threw it open and he was in the shop,  _ his _ shop. It was full of them- ghosts he recognized and ghosts he didn’t and they were all screaming. Screaming for him, screaming for help, screaming for attention, just  _ screaming. _

But then one of them reached out to touch him and it  _ did _ and-

He sat up with a scream. He put his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut and  _ screamed. _ He screamed like the ghosts, like his siblings when they were kids, like he was locked in the mausoleum again. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he shook it off and screamed louder. 

“Klaus,” someone said. Who was that? Did Klaus himself say it? Was it one of the ghosts? Was it-

“Klaus,” Dave said. 

Klaus stopped screaming. He was breathing way too fast, even he could recognize that, but he couldn’t do anything about it because the air felt like nothing. It did nothing to satisfy his lungs and he couldn’t think. He opened his eyes and realized they were filled with tears. He looked around the room wildly, hands still over his ears. Ghosts were everywhere. They were watching him. They were all always fucking watching him. 

“Klaus,” Dave said again softly. A hand was on his shoulder again and Klaus finally realized it wasn’t a ghost but it was Dave’s. His breathing calmed as he looked up at him and saw Dave watching him, eyebrows furrowed to match his frown and eyes full of concern. 

“Oh my god,” Klaus cried and leaned into him. Dave wrapped his arms around his shoulders as he started to sob. “I’m sorry,” he whimpered. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay,” Dave said softly. “It’s okay, you’re okay, I’m okay. Everything’s okay.” 

“God, they’re so- they’re so…” He shook his head. 

“I know,” Dave said and held him tighter as Klaus cried into his shoulder. “I know, baby, I know.” 

“They’re just so loud-” 

“I know baby, I’m sorry.” 

They sat for a minute. Dave held Klaus tight and hummed as he gently rocked them back and forth. When Klaus was finally calm enough to wrap his arms around Dave instead of holding them to his chest to curl completely in on himself Dave spoke again.

“Klaus, I… I think you made them all visible,” he whispered. Klaus’ entire body went stiff before he pulled away from Dave to look up at him. 

“What?” 

“When you were panicking,” Dave started carefully, not fully letting go of Klaus. “The room was full of people. They were all glowing and see through and screaming.”

“You…” Klaus started. “You could see them.” His voice cracked and Dave pulled him back against his chest. “I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay,” Dave insisted. “It’s okay.” 

“But- But I-”

“Is that what you see?” Dave asked, sounding heartbroken. “All the time?”

“Yeah,” Klaus said. “I’ve gotten better at making it quiet or getting some of them to leave me alone, but it was like that for a long time.” 

He could feel Dave shaking his head above him as he spoke. “I’m sorry Klaus.”

“People just really don’t understand that that’s what it’s  _ like,” _ Klaus said as tears stung his eyes again. “My siblings didn’t get it, you should’ve heard the way they talked about it.” 

“I’m sorry,” Dave said. “You deserved better than that.” Klaus laughed bitterly into his shoulder. 

*****

“Hargreeves, ya with us?” Huey asked. When Klaus looked up at him, snapped out of a trance, his eyebrows were raised expectantly. 

“Yeah, sorry,” Klaus said and shook his head. “Just… lost in my thoughts, I guess.” 

“You have those?” Simmons deadpanned. Klaus kicked his shin underneath the table. 

“Both uv’ya stop it,” Jimmy barked. “We got shit to do here.” 

“What else could we possibly be doing?” Miller asked. “Just more a’ the same?” 

“Well, I can’t sit here and do nothing, even if I don’t think it’ll end up changing much,” Klaus muttered and shifted in his seat. 

“What if we designed flyers or pamphlets or somethin’,” Simmons said. “Get more of the public involved, make things bigger.” 

“Maybe,” Jimmy said and held his hands up as if to say ‘slow down’. “We gotta think about these things, especially dragging the public into it. They don’t know what war looks like.” 

“Exactly!” Miller said. “Make ‘em aware, get ‘em on our side a’ things.” Jimmy sighed. 

“I think he’s right,” Huey said. 

“Me too,” Klaus said. Simmons nodded. Jimmy looked around at the group and sighed again. 

“Alright,” he gave in. “I’ll get started on it. Don’t expect it to be quick, though. Again, we gotta think about this. Gotta be careful.” 

“Alright,” Miller said with a small nod. The rest of the group did the same. 

“Alright,” Jimmy repeated firmly. 

*****

“Do you ever think about your family?” Dave asked softly one night, fingertips tracing patterns on Klaus’ skin he couldn’t quite identify. 

“Everyday,” Klaus said. It came out sounding choked. “I’m scared I’ll see them.” 

“Oh.” 

“Ben asks me to look for them sometimes,” he continued. “I guess he wants to know for sure.” 

“You mean  _ look _ like…” Dave made a gesture at the air in general after he trailed off. 

“Yeah,” he said with a nod. 

“I’m sorry,” Dave whispered. 

“I’m just scared,” Klaus said and looked over at him. “I’m the only one left, and I can’t see them like that. Seeing Ben like that was enough. As much as I didn’t get along with them I can’t see them like that.” 

“That’s okay,” Dave said softly and brushed his hair off his forehead. 

“Is it?” Klaus questioned, voice cracking a bit.

“Yeah, it is,” Dave assured him. “It’s okay to not want to see your family like that.” Klaus sighed and looked up at the ceiling as he snuggled closer to Dave’s side. “I’m serious, Klaus,” Dave continued. “You already have to see much more than any person should, no one else should be able to tell you how to handle it all.” 

“Maybe,” Klaus said. 

“It’s not a maybe,” Dave said. “It  _ is.” _

“You’re too good for me,” Klaus said. 

“That’s not true,” Dave insisted and held him closer. 

*****

After the war they were going to move to San Francisco. That was their plan the first time around. Either San Francisco or another big, more accepting city or out to the middle of fucking no where, where there was no one to care about the two men moving into a small house together. They would whisper about it on nights when everyone else managed to fall asleep or on nights they spent in a city curled up together in a crappy motel room. 

But somehow they survived together in Dallas. Time passed and they lived. A lot of time passed. Things were surprisingly stable and he barely noticed the time passing. Not long after Klaus moved into Dave’s apartment he and Ben realized they’d been in the 60’s a whole year. Then the shop had been open for a year. Then he’d been living with Dave for a year. Then he’d been in the 60’s two years.

He kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. His family to drop out of the sky and find him and drag him into more of their bullshit. 

But they didn’t. He spent his days with customers or Dave or the guys from the shelter or Ben. He spent his nights with Ben or Dave. Ben hung around in the evening before Klaus and Dave went to bed, leaving them alone to do what they did. Nights not spent kissing and touching were spent talking to each other, like Klaus was used to from Vietnam. They talked about anything and everything, staying up far too late to do so, so by the end of their conversations they were laughing like toddlers and their voices were soft.

“We should go somewhere,” Dave said one of those nights when they were curled up in bed. 

“Hmm,” Klaus hummed against his bare chest. “Like what? Like dinner tomorrow or something?”

“No, like a trip,” Dave said and pulled Klaus closer by the arm around his shoulders. “Get out of town for a bit.” 

“Yeah, that could be fun,” Klaus said. “We’d have to plan way ahead though. I’d need to make sure I don’t schedule any appointments when we’re gone.” 

“Yeah, I’m not saying we should get up and go tomorrow,” Dave said. “Though that does sound like something we’d do.” 

Klaus snorted and pressed his face into Dave’s chest. “Yeah,” he said. “I can’t believe the sixties turned me into an entire responsible adult. My siblings wouldn’t recognize me.” 

Dave scoffed when he said the words  _ responsible adult. _ “Klaus, three days ago you spent an hour looking for your keys when they were in your hand, I wouldn’t say you’re completely changed.” 

“Well, my hair’s longer,” Klaus laughed absentmindedly. “Those fuckers wouldn’t recognize me.” 

Dave laughed. “So where would you wanna go?” 

“I don’t know, it was your idea,” Klaus laughed incredulously. 

“What would you like to do?” Dave asked. “Something adventurous, historical, fun?” 

“I don’t know, whatever you wanna do,” Klaus said. 

Dave hummed thoughtfully. “I’ll think about it,” he said and turned so his forehead was pressed against Klaus’ temple.

“Okay,” Klaus said happily and pulled the blanket up to his chin. “We can start planning tomorrow.” 

“Yeah,” Dave sighed. “Tomorrow.”

“What about Galveston?” Dave said a few days later with a shy, hopeful smile on his face. 

“Huh?” Klaus responded, ever-so gracefully. Give him a break, he was still in business brain from his day at the shop.

“We were talking about a trip, what about going to Galveston,” Dave clarified. 

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Klaus said. 

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Klaus said. “I’ve never been, you like it, the whole trip thing was your idea in the first place. Why not?” 

Dave’s timid smile grew to a genuine one, and if Klaus had any problems with going to Galveston at some point that alone would’ve made them disappear. 

They picked a few days in the middle of the week a few weeks away so Klaus didn’t make any appointments when they were out of town, and that was that.

*****

“So, what are we gonna do when we get there?” Klaus asked and turned in his seat with an energetic smile. 

“Well, what do you wanna do?” Dave asked. “Depending on when we get there we have lots of options. We could go to the beach, we could go shopping at all the touristy places that are all the same, we could do some lame historical stuff I wanted to do that you’ll complain about but secretly enjoy.” He tapped the steering wheel with his hand with every option he listed off. 

“Hey, I would  _ not _ enjoy it,” Klaus interjected, though his argument wasn’t taken seriously because he was laughing through it. Dave started laughing too. 

“Whatever you say.” Klaus crossed his arm over his chest and jokingly pouted in his seat. “Oh come on,” Dave added. “I say lame history stuff but it was not lame.”

“What  _ kind _ of history stuff?” Klaus asked cautiously. “If it’s not lame.” 

“Well, pirates to start,” Dave said. “And gangs and mobs.” 

“Shit, really?” Klaus asked. 

“Mm-hmm,” Dave hummed with a nod. He grinned and continued, “Galveston was literally called the fucking Wall Street of the South and like one of the biggest stock cities in the country until-” His smile fell suddenly as he cut himself off. 

“What? What happened?” Klaus asked. 

“Fuck,” Dave said and looked out the driver’s side window. “The storm. When a lot of people died.” 

“Oh,” Klaus said lightly.

“We can turn around,” Dave said quickly, eyebrows furrowing in the way Klaus recognized as his ‘shit, I fucked up how do I fix it’ face. “We can do something else, we don’t have to-”

“Dave, it’s fine, I’ve been feeling better about big crowds of them lately,” Klaus said and put a hand on his arm. 

“But-” 

“Dave, there are gonna be ghosts everywhere,” Klaus said firmly. “I grew up in a house full of crime fighting children, fought in a war, and lived a few months in a shelter full of other war vets. I’m used to the crowds and I’ve gotten better at handling it than I ever have before. I’ll be okay.” 

Dave still didn’t look convinced, but quietly said, “If you’re sure…”

“Yeah,” Klaus said and sat up in his seat again with another smile. He tilted and awkwardly set his elbow on his hip and put his chin on the heel of his hand with a slightly sarcastic grin. “Sooo, tell me about this storm.” 

“Uhh.” 

“Think of it as a warning so I know what to expect,” Klaus insisted. 

“Klaus, I don’t like this,” Dave said. 

“Dave, you wanted to go. We’re going.” 

“But-” 

“Dave, you worry too much about the ghosts,” Klaus said firmly and let his hands fall into his lap. Dave’s expression shifted and his eyebrows furrowed. He opened his mouth to say something but Klaus kept going. “You’re so worried about how things are gonna be for me that you don’t do things. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful that you keep it in mind and check on me and worry about it because it’s more than anyone else has ever done, but we’re gonna do this because you wanna do it.” 

“What are you talking about, Klaus?” Dave asked. 

“Dave, you should have  _ seen _ your face when you brought up going to Galveston,” Klaus said. “You wanna go, so we’re gonna go. We’re doing something because you want to and that’s it. No worrying about my and my stupid ghost shit, okay? We’re  _ gonna _ do this, and we’re  _ gonna _ have fun, and I’m  _ gonna _ keep the ghosts to leave me alone somehow, and you’re  _ gonna _ be a lame history nerd, and I’m  _ gonna  _ watch you be happy.” 

“Klaus, we don’t have to go on a trip to make me happy,” Dave said softly and took his eyes off the road to look at Klaus. He took a hand off the wheel and took Klaus’ in it as he looked back out the windshield. 

“Yeah, I know,” Klaus said and squeezed his hand. 

Dave squeezed back. “I love you, you know?” 

“Yeah, I know,” Klaus repeated. “I love you too.” 

“You really wanna hear about the storm?” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said with a nod. 

“Okay, so like, nobody in town knew this thing was comin’,” Dave started and pulled his hand out of Klaus’ to wave it in the air as he spoke, looking back and forth between Klaus and the road every few seconds. “Like, it had already hit parts of Cuba and Florida, but the telegram lines went down so they couldn’t get the news out that something was coming.” 

“Damn,” Klaus said.

“So it hit, and leveled houses. Places were flooding up to the higher stories. Everything within a few blocks of the coast was torn apart. People a little farther out were chopping holes in the floors of their houses so the weight of the water inside would stop the whole house from being lifted up or blown completely over.” 

“Dave, what the fuck?” 

“Water is heavy and the wind was really blowing!” Dave defended the long gone Galvestonians with a slight laugh. “The last recorded wind speed was 100 hiles an hour  _ before the instrument flew off the weather building.” _

“Okay, okay,” Klaus laughed happily at Dave’s enthusiasm. “I get it, it was bad.” 

Dave sobered suddenly and Klaus knew they were getting to the part of the story neither of them liked. “They don’t know how many people actually died,” he said, staring straight ahead through the windshield. “Most common guess is about eight thousand.” Klaus managed to keep himself from physically wincing, but Dave still looked over at him again. “We can still turn back around,” he said. 

“There are ghosts everywhere,” Klaus said. Dave just sighed. “Come on, tell me more.” When he really heard the words he smiled and started bobbing his head in a kind of dance.  _ “Tell me more, tell me more, did you get very far? Tell me more, tell me more, like…” _ He paused when he got no reaction. “Really? Nothin’?” 

“Sorry, babe,” Dave said. Klaus waved it off. 

“Must not be out yet.” 

“What is it?” 

“A musical, then a movie of the musical,” Klaus explained. “By the time I came around it was a classic. Everyone knew it.” 

“Sounds fun,” Dave said. 

“It was all about sex, I have no idea why people let their kids watch it.” 

Dave burst into laughter, the kind he initially tried to hold in and failed really quickly but still tried to quiet it down so it sounded more like awkward, uneasy laughter. Klaus smiled as he watched him laugh. 

“Seriously?” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said. “But really, tell me more about the storm.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Dave said. “They raised the entire city after. Houses were built on stilts. Nobody left anything on the ground.” 

“Houses on stilts?” Klaus questioned. 

“Yeah,” Dave said with a nod. “They still are, you’ll see when we get there.” 

And if there was one thing Klaus saw when they got to the island a while later, it was houses on stilts. Houses raised dozens of feet in the air supported by thick wood pillars underneath every few feet. Some houses had things like chairs or bar-b-que pits arranged between the pillars, some had other rooms built underneath that obviously weren’t in the original designs. 

“You weren’t kidding about the stilts, huh?” he asked, staring intently out the window. 

“Nope,” Dave said without looking away from the road, popping the p as he spoke. 

“Is this the only place they do this?” Klaus asked. 

“I know they do it along the coast off the island, but I don’t know if any other places do it,” Dave explained. “To be honest, I never really thought about it.” Klaus laughed and leaned back in his seat. “You seeing any of ‘em?” he asked. 

“Yeah,” Klaus answered meekly. He had been for a while now, since a few miles off the coast. Drowning victims were pretty distinct. 

“How are they?” 

“Well, none of them are exactly lookers,” he responded. Dave didn’t say anything but Klaus could feel him looking at him. “I don’t think they've realized I can see them. If I can keep it that way it’ll be a lot easier.” 

“You think you can do that?” 

“We’re gonna find out.” 

There was a long moment where neither of them said anything. Klaus continued staring through the window. 

“Okay, now that we’ve gotten the dramatics out of the way, really, do you think you can do it?” Dave asked lightly. 

Klaus turned back to him, letting the tension in his shoulders out. He sighed lightly before responding easily, “I really don’t know. If not, I’ll get some more practice in getting more of those fuckers to leave me alone. Banishing them, or whatever Ben likes to call it.” 

“Okay,” Dave said. 

“Yeah?” Klaus teased with a smile, leaning closer to him and poking his arm. He could see Dave trying to suppress a smile. “So you’re gonna stop worrying? And you’ll enjoy yourself?” The smile grew more and more until it was a full, bright grin. 

“Yes,” Dave said. “Well, I can’t say I’m not gonna worry, because I’m always gonna worry about you, but I will do my best.” 

“Alright, good enough,” Klaus said and sat properly in his seat again. Even after so long he found it hard to believe that anyone could care about him as much as Dave did. 

*****

“What the fuck is this?” Klaus asked, gesturing to the wall between the sand and the road as he walked down the steps toward the sand. He made it a point to ignore all the ghosts wailing along the sand and off the shore. He was honestly rather impressed by how well he held back his reaction to the children tied to middle aged women by what appeared to be bed sheets. He’d have to remember to ask Dave what the fuck was up with that when they left the island.

“The sea wall,” Dave answered his question from a few steps behind him. Klaus skipped the last step and jumped onto the sand, spinning around to face Dave as he walked down the last few steps like a mature human person. “They built it after the storm. It’s meant to stop the water from storm waves surging up like they did then.” 

Klaus turned and looked at the wall stretching as far as he could see in both directions. “How far does it go?” 

“About ten miles,” Dave said with a shrug. He held a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun. 

“How tall is it?” 

“Fifteen, twenty feet, I guess.” Another shrug. 

“Damn.” 

“Yeah, they really wanted that to not happen again,” Dave said, making Klaus laugh a bit. 

“Ya don’t say,” he hummed. 

Dave shoved his shoulder jokingly. “Shut up, smart ass.” They both laughed, and Klaus turned around to look at the water just in time to get hit in the face with a beach ball. 

“Motherf-” he started but was distracted by a toddler running slash waddling over to him, followed by a thin woman who Klaus assumed was his mother. The kid tried to just grab the ball, which had bounced off of Klaus and landed a few feet in front of him, and run back to the ocean, but was stopped by the woman’s hands on his shoulders. 

“What do you say to this man?” she said harshly and spun him around to face Klaus again. 

“Sorry,” the kid said, looking down at the ball he had pressed against his chest by his short, chubby arms. 

“It’s okay, kiddo,” Klaus said and lifted his chin toward the water. “Go have fun.” 

Without another word the kid turned around and ran off, giggling as his mother gave Klaus an apologetic smile before running off after him. 

“Come on,” Dave said and readjusted the bag on his shoulder. “Let’s find a place to sit.” 

“So what do you even, like…  _ do _ at the beach?” Klaus asked as he followed Dave across the sand. 

“You’ve never been to the beach?” Dave asked, looking back at him. 

“No, too frivolous and time wasting and fun for ole Reggie Hargreeves,” Klaus shook his head and said. 

“Well,” Dave said and picked a spot a little behind the waterline marked by dense, darkened sand and put the bag down on the dry sand. “What you do at the beach is be excited when you get here, get sand on and in everything, and stand in one place until you sink past your ankles in the sand and get stuck so your siblings run into you at full speed because you can’t get out of the way.” 

“Is there something you wanna talk about, Dave?” Klaus asked and spread one of the towels they brought out on the sand. 

“My brother’s an asshole,” he answered as he did the same. 

“Yeah, I can relate to that,” Klaus said. “Try having a brother with superstrength who was encouraged to beat you up for quote unquote  _ training.” _

Dave shook his head as he sat down. “I’m not gonna say anything but-” 

“Ehh, it wasn’t his fault,” Klaus said. “He was just trying to impress Dad. The poor guy never really got out of his grip, was actually upset when he died.” 

“That must have been weird,” Dave said. “Having him mourn the man the rest of you saw through.” 

“Yeah, it was,” Klaus said. “A few days before I got thrown back here he actually found out how bad he really was. He didn’t take it well.” Dave hummed next to him and leaned toward him a tiniest bit, like he wanted to touch him but remembered they were out in public. Klaus sat up straighter and looked over at him. “I wanna get in the water. Can I get in the water?”

“You can do whatever you want,” Dave laughed. Klaus looked back and forth between Dave and the water for a moment before standing up and pulling his shirt over his head. He stood up and hurried over to the water and walked right in. 

It wasn’t really what he expected. It was kind of chilly since the full heat of summer hadn’t really hit yet, but the water was also just kind of… gross. Even standing there with the water only up to his ankles he could barely see the tops of his feet. He took a few more steps so the water was up to his waist and couldn’t see anything. He turned back around to look at Dave, still sitting on a towel on the sand with a smug grin on his face. Then Klaus got hit by a wave hard enough to knock him off his feet and his head was submerged. When he resurfaced he could see Dave laughing on the sand. 

“You knew this was gonna happen, didn’t you?” Klaus yelled. Dave stood up and took his own shirt off, dropping it on the towel as he walked toward him. 

“You know the ocean has waves, right?” he teased. Klaus slapped the water, sending drops to fly and land on Dave. 

“Hey,” he said and splashed him back. It quickly became a splash fight as the two laughed at themselves. As their splashing got bigger and bigger, Klaus would have to turn away or cover his eyes to avoid getting the salt water in them. Naturally, when his back was turned toward Dave, he lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Klaus’ waist and picked him up so his feet were no longer on the sandy bottom and tossed him into the waves. 

When he stood back up, wiping the salt water and his long, curly hair out of his eyes, he smacked Dave lightly on the shoulder. “Asshole,” he accused.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Dave laughed along and shoved him again. 

They spent a few more hours at the beach, but Klaus insisted they didn’t stay in the sun too long. Sunscreen wasn’t really a common thing yet and he burned way too easily to spend more than an hour or two out in the sun, sand, and water like that. 

They wandered around neighborhoods for a bit, Dave showing Klaus a few of the more famous houses and manors on the city. He explained how a lot of them were either owned by or named after families that at one point owned most of the land on the island. There was one thing a lot of those houses had in common that Klaus noticed, but didn’t ask about until the third or fourth house. 

“Why are there windows on these things going all the way down to the ground?” he asked and pointed at one of the windows. “Especially since the entrances aren’t even on the ground level?”

“Because those used to be the entrance levels,” Dave said. Klaus turned to him, eyebrows furrowed with a slight frown in confusion. “For houses like these that were too much of a hassle to lift when they raised the city, they just poured concrete on the first floors and made the higher floors the entrances.” 

Klaus’ jaw dropped and his eyebrows furrowed again, but this time in exaggerated shock. “So these windows that go into the ground here, actually  _ go into the ground.” _ Dave nodded. “This city is so fucking weird.” 

“And that’s only the storm,” Dave said. “So much other shit happened here.” 

“Can we get into something else tomorrow? It’s getting kinda late,” Klaus said. 

“Yeah, sure,” Dave said. “Let’s find something to eat and get back to the hotel.” 

“Great, I’m starving.”

*****

“So, a pirate lived here?” Klaus said. He Believed it based on how many ghosts he saw as they stared at what was left of the house. It was mostly stones that remained of walls and a staircase in the middle of the room closest to them. His hair blew into his face as a car sped down the road behind them. 

“Yeah,” Dave said. “Some people think he buried treasure somewhere on the island.” 

“Maybe I could find him,” Klaus laughed. “Find out about that.” 

Dave laughed. “Please,” he said. “I’d never have to go back to Brian’s shop again.” Klaus giggled too. “I could go all out and tell him you’re never moving out of the apartment.” 

“What, you’re gonna take some pirate treasure and move out and leave me in the apartment,” Klaus laughed.

Dave turned to him, expression suddenly serious. “You know that’s not what I meant,” he said quietly. Klaus’ expression turned just as serious. 

“You really would?” 

_ “Of course I would, Klaus,” _ Dave scoffed. “If I knew that-” He shook his head and started over. “Klaus, if I was  _ certain _ , beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I could without the chance of one or both of us getting killed,  _ I would.” _ Klaus smiled, though it was bittersweet and he was biting this bottom lip. “I’m serious. If Brian had a problem then he could suck my dick.” 

“That’s my job,” Klaus said without missing a beat. Dave scoffed and shoved his shoulder a bit harder than necessary to prove a point. Klaus almost toppled over, but Dave reached out and caught him with a laugh. 

“You have a fucking death wish sometimes, I swear,” he said as he let him go.

“Nah,” Klaus said and scrunched his face up and shook his head. “Not anymore.” Dave pursed his lips but didn’t say anything else about it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they say write what you know so i wrote dave talking about galveston and the storm of 1900 for 4k words jdnvksbv yes that was a hyperfixation of mine a while back sorry. also dave is very whatever about everything and i love it.  
> come talk to me on tumblr about tua or galveston and the storm of 1900 if you have any questions about the references here if you care enough @ lastyoungrene-gay-de!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shows back up to post after a whole ass month* hiiiiii.   
> just a heads up, this chapter is super short. it's about 3.7k words when pretty much every chapter in this fic had been at least 10k, but I had an idea for this chapter that i couldn't make work :/. I also wanted to get something else up before the rest of the siblings show up for the (altered) events of season 2 start, which I'm super excited to write so, enjoy this last little bit of calm, domestic klave :)  
> (also this chapter is barely edited im sorry for any mistakes but i refuse to not post this tonight but it's 12:45 am and i'm tired and i've had a long stressful week and i need validation NOW salkjflfh)

“So, my uncle told me, a little passive aggressively, I might add, that my sister’s coming to town,” Dave said one night as they were sitting on the couch, playing with Klaus’ hair. 

“That’s cool,” Klaus said. “Are you gonna go somewhere with him to see her?” 

“I was thinking about it,” Dave said with a nod. “I was thinking about inviting her somewhere without Brian. Maybe here.” 

Klaus looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked. “God, I can’t imagine what Brian would have to say about that.” 

“I don’t really care about Brian,” Dave huffed. “I’m only civil at this point because I need the job.” Klaus reached over and grabbed his hand and let out a sigh as he rested his head on his shoulder. 

“I’m serious,” Klaus said. “I don’t wanna be the thing that causes any problems with you and your family.” 

“You aren’t, Klaus,” Dave insisted. 

They’d had this conversation before, anytime Klaus had any contact with Brian. As much as he wanted to most times, he was careful not to say anything to Brian. It took him time to get used to not being able to fight him anytime he said something about him, but thanks to Ben he’d managed to keep himself reigned enough to not get anything worse than negative comments and name calling. At least, Ben told him to think of it as name calling instead of what it was, which was throwing slurs in his face. 

For the sake of Dave’s relationship with the rest of his family, Klaus held himself back from responding. 

“Why is she coming to town?” Klaus asked. 

“I’m not sure,” Dave answered. “I’m excited to see her, though. She’s the one I was closest to when we were kids; she was closest to my age.” 

Klaus hummed on his shoulder. “When is she getting here?”

“Two weeks,” Dave said. 

“Well, that gives you time to come up with something.” 

“Yeah.” 

*****

Klaus was sprawled out on the couch again, legs hanging over the armrest on one side while his hands held a book up over his face. Ben had made a few snide comments about Klaus picking up a book in his free time, but it was one of Dave’s favorites and he wanted to be able to talk about it with him. He loved the way his face lit up and he rambled on when he got to talk about it. Klaus didn’t really get why Bilbo  _ had _ to go with the dwarves, though. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to tell you what’s going on?” Ben asked from across the room. 

“Yes, I’m sure,” Klaus groaned and let the book fall onto his face. “I need to read it myself. I need to know all the details or Dave’s gonna know I cheated,” he whined. 

“He’s not gonna care,” Ben laughed. “He didn’t even ask you to do this, he won’t give a shit that you learned about it from me, he’ll just be happy to talk about it with you.” 

“I know, but it’s not the saaaaaaaame,” Klaus groaned and rolled on the couch so the book fell off his face and fell shut on the floor. He groaned again as he reached for it and tried to open it back to the page he’d been on. 

“Why is your stuff out here?” Ben asked suddenly. Klaus looked up to see him looking around the room at some of Klaus’ belongings scattered around the room, tucked in the dark corners or stacked up against the wall or on the coffee table. 

“Dave’s sister is coming over,” Klaus said. “And I need to look like more of a loser who can’t get his own place than a boyfriend.” 

“So you’re trying to make it look like you sleep on the couch?”

“Yup.” 

“Good luck with all that,” Ben said. “You two are  _ not _ good at pretending you aren’t disgustingly in love with each other.”

“Especially since she’s already met with Briaaaan,” Klaus groaned some more and rolled over onto his stomach, shoving his face into the couch cushion. “And I have no doubt he had no problem shit-talking me before I got a chance to make a decent impression.” 

“Yeah, you’re fucked,” Ben said simply. 

Klaus sat up and whipped his head to look at his brother, his long hair flying into his face. “I knooooow,” he whined. He snapped his head toward the door as he heard the dull clang and jingle of a key slipping into the lock on the door. 

“Good luck,” Ben said in a teasing sing-song voice. 

“Fuck off,” Klaus hissed and scrambled off the couch onto his feet. The lock clicked and the door opened. Klaus caught a glimpse of Dave’s face, smiling directly at him as he pushed the door open for his sister in a way that had to be intentional. It’s comforting, and he smiled back as Sara walked through the door. She had a grin on her face as well, and for a brief moment Klaus wondered if she’d actually talked to Brian before coming to meet him. 

“Hi,” she said cheerfully and walked right over to him. “I’m Sara. You must be Klaus.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m Klaus,” he said, nodding. 

“Uncle Brian told me all about you,” she said, sounding far too excited for the words she was actually saying. 

“You seem a bit too happy to be meeting me if Brian was able to say anything about me,” Klaus laughed anxiously. 

“Yeah, he’s not your biggest fan,” Sara laughed back, but more genuinely. “But he’s got his opinions and what he thinks of you is definitely shaped by them, even if I don’t really agree with them.” Klaus quickly flicked his eyes back and forth between Sara and Dave to make sure she was saying what he thought she was saying. They were both smiling, but while Sara’s was still genuine and kind, Dave’s was an excited one he was obviously trying to suppress but the shining in his eyes gave him away. 

“Wait, soooo…” 

“Yeah,” Dave said as he took the few steps toward him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pressed a light kiss to his temple. “We moved all your stuff for nothing.” Klaus threw his hands in the air in fake annoyance. 

“Well, how inconvenient,” he said sarcastically. Sara laughed as Dave shook his head with a smile and started walking back to their room. 

“Hold on, let me put my shoes away,” he muttered as he slipped behind Klaus. 

Sara chuckled, and once he was out of the room she asked quietly, “Is he still obsessed with keeping the floors so clean?” 

“Yeah,” Klaus laughed. 

“Yeah, I”m not surprised, the kitchen floor was one of his chores when we were kids,” Sara explained. “Our oldest brother used to drag mud in just to annoy him.” 

“I have a few siblings so I have no problem believing that,” Klaus said. 

“And were you the one dragging mud in or cleaning it up?” Sara asked with a gleam in her eyes. Klaus shrugged. 

“Depends on the day.” They both laughed a bit before he continued. “Probably making a mess, really. I wasn’t the best brother and my punishments were usually a lot worse than scrubbing the floors.” 

“Didn’t have chores?” 

“My family had money. And were incredibly messed up in so many other ways that no, we did not have chores.” 

Sara studied his face for a moment before nodding a little. “Judging by all this-” she gestured vaguely at his face- “I’m gonna guess I don’t wanna know.” 

“Oh, you really, really don’t,” Klaus said. 

“She doesn’t want what?” Dave asked, suddenly appearing next to Klaus. 

“Oh, you left us alone for thirty seconds and I already found a way to work in the fact that my family’s a mess,” Klaus said matter of factly. 

Dave hummed. “Not too surprising.” He wrapped an arm around his shoulders and looked at him fondly. “Also probably best to get it out of the way early. It’ll explain a lot about you later.” 

“David!” Klaus scoffed and elbowed him right in the ribs. The siblings both laughed and Klaus turned to Sara with a look of exaggerated disbelief on his face. “He is so mean to me.” 

Dave wrapped his arm around Klaus and chuckled, “You know I don’t mean it.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Klaus said and leaned into his side, shocked by just how touchy and affectionate Dave was being. He would take it, he’d always take this kind of attention from Dave, but Dave was usually the one reminding him how careful they had to be. Klaus couldn’t imagine what happened between him and his sister earlier that made him so comfortable with being this open around her. 

“So, how have you been?” Dave asked his sister. “I’ve really lost contact with everyone but Brian.” 

“Yeah, we noticed,” Sara deadpanned.

“I’m sorry!” Dave cried out as Sara started laughing. 

“No, no, honestly, it’s probably for the best,” Sara said. “I wish I could lose contact with most of them.” She tilted her head as if considering whether to add to that comment before continuing. “And Brian and Alex have kind of joined forces to make you look bad to the rest of the family,” she added quickly, watching him carefully. Dave just shrugged. 

“Not too surprising,” he said. “‘Specially since I said I couldn’t be paid to enlist.” 

“Yeah, they weren’t big fans’a that,” Sara said and quickly nodded her head with her eyebrows raised. “But I also can’t imagine what I would do if they tried to force me into that so I can’t blame you.” 

“And I’m sure Brian has no problem trying to get everyone to hate me since we met Klaus,” Dave added and pulled Klaus a little closer. 

“Yeah, how did you two meet?” Sara asked, looking between them. “He spent too much time complaining to tell me that part.” 

“So-” Klaus started, but was interrupted by Dave. 

“We might wanna sit down for this one,” he suggested, looking down at Klaus. 

“Yeah, sure,” Klaus said with a nod. Sara looked at them both cautiously for a second before nodding along. 

They all quickly settled on the couch with Sara and Klaus on the ends and Dave in the middle. Klaus wasted no time leaning up against Dave again. 

“Why is my copy of  _ The Hobbit _ on the floor?” Dave asked as they got settled, looking down at his feet. Klaus quickly leaned over and scooped it up off the carpet. 

“Sorry,” he said. “I was reading it.” Dave raised an eyebrow and Klaus shrugged. 

“So, what kind of crazy story am I about to hear?” Sara asked, successfully getting both their attention. 

“I don’t know, I think it’s pretty simple,” Klaus said and tapped his fingers on the cover of the book in his lap. 

“Yeah, but there are some things that are gonna take a bit to explain,” Dave added gently. 

Klaus shrugged. “I guess I’m so used to a lot of it I don’t even think about it anymore,” he said. “You usually are the better judge of what normal people are going to think of this kinda stuff.” 

“Yeah,” Dave agreed. 

“What kind of stuff?” Sara asked. 

“Okay, so…” Dave started slowly. “Klaus is a medium.”

“Like, he sees ghosts?” Sara asked incredulously. 

“Yeah,” Dave confirmed. When Sara didn’t say anything else he continued, “and Uncle Brian was trying to get me to enlist, so he figured he’d try to get Grandpa to talk me into it.”

“By trying to talk to his ghost?”

“I think he was kinda desperate.” Sara looked between the two of them in disbelief. Dave looked back at Klaus and said softly, “See, I told you it isn’t that simple.” 

“Okay, okay, you win, you were right,” Klaus responded and raised his hands in surrender. 

“So you see ghosts?” Sara asked. 

“Unfortunately, yes,” Klaus confirmed with a nod. 

“Unfortunately?” she echoed. 

“Yeah, ghosts are mean and loud,” Klaus said simply. “You wanna see one?” 

“Do I… Do I wanna see a mean and loud ghost?” Sara questioned. 

“Well, I can get one who isn’t screaming,” Klaus suggested, though a part of him hoped she said no. It had been a long day with some annoying clients and he was probably a bit too tired to try anything right now. 

“Maybe don’t make a ghost visible yet, babe,” Dave said. Relief flooded Klaus’ system as Dave turned to his sister. He opened his mouth to speak again, but after a moment of silence it closed with an audible  _ click. _ “Actually, that might be our best bet for making this conversation make any sense, I don’t see where we go from here without it.” 

“Okay,” Klaus said and shifted so he was sitting up straight on the couch. He did this to himself. “Give me a second to get Ben.” 

“He isn’t here?” Dave asked. 

“No, he left when you two got here, not sure where he went,” Klaus said and focused on bringing Ben to him. He felt a small hitch in his breath and his ears popped, and when he looked to the side Ben was leaning against the wall. 

“Oh, god, you guys fucked up here, didn’t you?” 

“That obvious?” Klaus laughed. 

“She looks two seconds away from calling a mental institution,” Ben said. 

“Cool, you’re the proof, we’re not crazy,” Klaus said and closed his eyes to focus on making him visible. 

“Oh, boy,” Ben sighed. A moment later Sara gasped. 

“Yeah, so… ghost,” Klaus said. 

“Okay,” Sara said, eyes wide as Ben, glowing blue, waved. “Ghost.” 

The group sat there looking at each other in a thick, awkward silence. 

“Can I go?” Ben eventually asked. 

Klaus looked at the other two and shrugged. “Yeah, I guess,” he said. A second later Ben stopped glowing and walked out of the apartment without another word. 

“Well, bye to you too,” Klaus said sarcastically when he was already gone. 

“He just walked off, didn’t he?” Dave asked knowingly. 

“When does he not?” 

“Who was that?” Sara interrupted. 

“My brother,” Klaus answered, and when she furrowed his eyebrows in confusion he continued, “My family’s complicated.” 

“Riiight,” Sara said slowly. After a moment she perked up in her seat. “That’s pretty cool.” 

“God, if only Brian were half as good about it as you two are, life would be so much fuckin’ easier,” Klaus muttered. 

“Yeah, he’s never been good with anything he doesn’t like,” Sara said. 

“Not even in like a ‘not expecting it’ or ‘doesn’t like change’ way,” Dave said. “He’s just always been a  _ dick _ about  _ everything _ .” 

“Remember the time when we were kids and spent the night with him and Aunt Mary when you spilled milk on the table?” Sara asked. 

“Oh my god, I thought I wasn’t going home alive that day,” Dave said and leaned back against the back of the couch. 

“You were like four,” Sara cried. “He screamed at you for like half an hour.” 

“He didn’t stop till I cried,” Dave added. “And then he yelled at me some more for crying.” 

“Sounds like something my dad would do,” Klaus said. 

“Oh my god, I don’t like Brian much but he’s not  _ that _ bad,” Dave said with a small laugh. 

“No,” Klaus sighed. “No, he isn’t.” 

“I don’t know how Mary could stand him,” Dave said. 

“Me either,” Sara said. “She was too nice for him.” 

“Exactly.” 

“Who’s Mary?” Klaus asked hesitantly. 

“She was Brian’s wife for a bit,” Dave said. “They didn’t last very long.” 

“Ahh,” Klaus said and nodded in understanding. 

“She was much nicer to us than he was,” Sara added. “I was actually kinda sad when things went south for them, but at the same time I’m glad she got away from his bullshit.” 

Klaus looked between the two of them, trying to figure out exactly what happened to cause the split. As much of a dick as Brian was, Klaus never would have expected he was physically abusive, but that’s what they were making it sound like. He had enough experience with those kinds of relationships to know that people didn’t really know how to talk about them. 

“Was he, like… abusive or was he just an asshole and she got tired of it?” he finally asked. 

“No, no, it wasn’t like that,” Sara said quickly. “She just got tired of him being a jerk all the time.” 

“Okay,” Klaus said. “I don’t like the guy but I didn’t think he was capable of that, so…” He raised his hands and pushed them away in a ‘just checking’ kind of motion. 

“Yeah, no. He’s just a dick,” Dave said firmly. 

“I just don’t see how you work with him,” Klaus said and leaned into his side. 

“By avoiding conversation,” Dave said. Klaus chuckled a bit and leaned all his weight against Dave’s side. He looked down at him and asked, “You tired?” 

“Yeah,” he said. “Long day at the shop. I probably shouldn’t have summoned Ben.” 

“You didn’t have to,” Dave said. 

“I didn’t want your sister to think we’re crazy,” Klaus said honestly, causing Sara to laugh lightly. 

“I will admit, I probably would’ve thought you were crazy if I hadn’t seen,” she said. 

“See,” Klaus said around a yawn. 

“You can go to bed, you know,” Dave laughed. 

“Didn’t wanna miss your sister,” Klaus said. 

“Well, you didn’t, and you do have to work tomorrow.” 

“I work everyday, I’m a business owner.” 

“Still, we don’t wanna keep you up. I know you have some trouble with the ghost stuff if you don’t sleep right.” 

Klaus looked up at Dave then over at Sara. “Okay,” he sighed. “I can tell you just want me to leave so you can talk bad about me. You win,” he joked. 

“I would never,” Dave gasped in mock offense as Klaus stood up. 

“I wouldn’t  _ dream _ of it,” Sara said with a smile. “It was great to meet you.” 

“Yeah, you too,” Klaus said as he stretched. He groaned softly when he felt (and heard) his back pop. “Okay, I’ll get outta your way, let you have your family time.” 

“Goodnight,” Sara said. 

“I’ll take Sara back to Brian’s before I go to bed,” Dave told him. Klaus nodded, glad he let him know in case he woke up with a nightmare and couldn’t find Dave in the apartment. 

“Night,” Klaus said and walked into the bedroom. 

*****

“So, I was talking to a friend in law enforcement,” Jimmy said. “And-” 

“Why would you be friends with any asshole in law enforcement?” Klaus interrupted, face scrunched up in confusion. 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Huey deadpanned. 

“Oooh, boy, that is not a door you wanna open,” Klaus laughed. 

_ “Anyway,” _ Jimmy said pointedly, shutting them both up. “We shouldn’t have a problem passing out pamphlets and flyers and things like that. So we can go ahead and get started on that.” 

“Awesome,” Simmons said. “I feel like we’re onto something there.” 

“Wasn’t it your idea?” Klaus asked, turning and giving him a look. 

“Yeah,” Simmons said. “So what?” 

“Of course you think your own idea is good,” Klaus laughed. 

“Am I wrong?” 

“No, but-” 

“Then shut up.” 

“Hey!” Huey said. Klaus and Simmons both turned to look at him. “Knock it off.” 

“Who wants to work on designing ‘em?” Jimmy asked, leaning back in his chair. 

“I can do some drawings for them, easy little icons and shit like that,” Klaus suggested, leaning forward so his weight was resting on his elbows on the table. 

“I know a guy who’ll get ‘em printed up for us,” Miller said. “Pro’lly for a discount too, if we’re nice.” 

“Okay.” Jimmy nodded. “Anyone wanna write some shit up?”

“I’ll do it if anyone wants to give some quotes to use or something’,” Jimmy said. 

“Yeah, I’m in,” Klaus said. “Let me know when you want that.” 

“Yeah, I’ll give ya somethin’ too,” Simmons said. 

“Alright,” Jimmy said with a sense of finality. “Let’s get to work on that.” 

*****

Klaus started spending his time in between clients sketching simple things that related to war. He drew simple sketches of helmets and guns and machinery and ammunition. He didn’t know how any of them could be worked into an anti-war pamphlet. He ripped the page out of his sketchbook and crumpled it up and tossed it in the general direction of the trash can. 

He put his head in his hands and groaned. 

“Ugghhh, how do I make this work?” he whined to himself. It would all be so much easier if they could use photos. Why did he volunteer himself to draw for this thing?

He looked up as the bell above the door jingled before shutting the sketchbook and greeting his next customer. 

He ended up with a waving American flag with two automatic rifles he used in combat crossed in an X in front of it. 

“What do you think?” he asked and turned the sketchbook around to show Dave as he got ready for bed. He took a step toward him to get a better look at the page from where Klaus was already in bed under the covers. 

“Is that for the pamphlets?” he asked and moved over to his side of the bed. Klaus nodded. “It’s good,” he continued. “It’d be really good on the cover. It’s nice and eye catching, but still relevant.” 

“That’s what I was thinking,” Klaus said and looked at the drawing again as Dave got comfortable in bed next to him. He shut the sketchbook and put it on the nightstand next to his side of the bed, biting his bottom lip. He turned and snuggled into Dave’s side, who wrapped his arm around his shoulders and held him tightly, fingers twisting in the hair at the nape of his neck. 

“You’re thinking about it all, aren’t you?” Dave said softly after a moment where Klaus didn’t say anything. “I’m sorry,” Dave said when nodded against his side. “I know you don’t like to think about it.” 

Klaus draped an arm over Dave’s bare stomach. “Because it fucking sucked.” 

“I know.” 

“You really don’t,” Klaus said even though he knew Dave was just trying to comfort him. “But I hope you don’t ever have to find out.” 

Dave turned and pressed a kiss to Klaus’ forehead, but didn’t say anything else. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading, and as always, come talk to me on tumblr about this fic or tua in general!! @lastyoungrene-gay-de  
> I promise the next chapter we'll be back to long chapter again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i realized halfway though this chapter that klaus and ray didnt get out of jail the same day so in this case let's say klaus got arrested a day later than he did in canon. k enjoy

Klaus was in jail. If you’d told him that about four and a half years ago he would’ve laughed and said,  _ ‘yeah, probably.’ _ But this wasn’t four and a half years ago. This was three years and eight months after he got dropped in the 1960s, when right before getting thrown into the 60s he’d spent ten months at war, also being thrown back into the 60s but at the end of the decade instead of the beginning of the decade he was in now, and the last time he had been in jail was early 2019. Time travel was complicated, but after doing the math, early 2019 was about four and a half years ago for him. 

He wasn’t there for any of his usual reasons, either. Not drug possession, not drunk and disorderly, not theft or shoplifting. No, today he was in jail for passing out pamphlets. Which was weird because Jimmy said there wouldn’t be a problem with them passing out pamphlets. 

He sighed and slumped against the bars of the cell. “If Dad could see me now,” he muttered. “Can’t even think of a Shakespeare quote for this situation.” 

“Oh?” came a voice from behind him, followed by the rustling of shifting fabric. He turned around to see a black man on the other side of the bars turning around to face him. The wrinkles in his nice shirt made Klaus think he hadn't been expecting being arrested but had been there for a while. “And what situation is that?” 

“Police suck,” Klaus said shortly. “Why? You familiar with Shakespeare? Your Dad force you to learn it all, too?” 

“No, I taught it,” the man said, and twisted even more awkwardly to hold his hand through the bars. “Ray. Raymond Chestnut.” 

“Klaus.” He took his hand and shook it awkwardly. 

“So, why do the police suck?” Ray prompted quietly. Klaus looked him up and down before he answered. 

“A group of friends wanted to pass out pamphlets,” he started. “One of ‘em checked before we did any of it to make sure we wouldn’t get any trouble. I guess he didn’t tell ‘em what kinda pamphlets they were.” 

The cops who arrested him didn’t seem to give a shit about the fact that he was passing them out, though they were obviously wary of him because he looked… like  _ that _ (read: gay), but they got very cold and pissed off when they realized he was passing out anti-war information. They started shoving him around as they arrested him and seemed to take the turns around corners much harsher than necessary, slamming his head into the window a few times. 

“What were they?” Ray asked curiously. 

“Anti-war,” Klaus said simply. 

Ray leaned back to get a better look at him, and after a moment slowly said, “Alright. You serve?” Klaus nodded. “And you’re still so against it all?” 

“Was never really for it in the first place,” Klaus said. “Didn’t have much choice.” He shrugged. “Went through hell then decided no one else should have to.” 

“You know a lot of black men face even more discrimination while serving,” Ray said. 

“Yeah, they wouldn’t let me put that in the pamphlet,” Klaus scoffed. “Something about  _ one fight at a time _ or some bullshit like that.” 

“Wait,” Ray said quietly and shifted on the hard bench again. “You made them? Don’t just pass them out?” 

_ “Helped _ make them,” Klaus corrected. “But yeah.” Ray nodded slowly again but didn’t say anything else, so Klaus prompted, “What about you? What’d they get you for?” Ray scoffed and shook his head, but then quickly looked up around the room outside the bars to make sure none of the officers were paying attention to their conversation. Klaus recognized it and lowered his voice when he asked, “That bullshit, huh?” 

“Apparently a white man sticking his foot in the closing door of a black woman’s salon by a black man is assault,” he muttered. 

“Shit,” Klaus said. 

“Yeah,” Ray sighed. “But most of these guys-” he gestured to the rest of the men crammed into his cell- “are being held without charge.” 

Klaus leaned back against the bars with a scoff. “Unbelievable,” he mumbled under his breath. A second later he tilted his head and said, “Actually yeah, very believable, unfortunately.” 

Ray chuckled bitterly. “Yeah, unfortunately. At least my wife was able to shove him out of the building, though I’m sure it just pissed him off more. Probably pushed him more toward reporting the whole thing.” 

Klaus leaned back and turned his head on his neck and opened his mouth to speak again, but he was cut off by an officer barging into the room and announced: “Hey, pretty boy! Come on, get outta here.” 

Klaus raised his eyebrows and pointed at himself when no one else in the cells moved. 

“Yeah, you,” the officer barked. “You got friends in the right places. Parker’s out front with your-” Klaus cringed in anticipation before the officer even finished his sentence, knowing Dave was probably out in the waiting room since he finally argued and annoyed his way into getting a phone call.  _ “-roommate,” _ the officer sneered as his nose wrinkled in disgust. 

“Who else is here?” Klaus asked as he stood up, eyebrows furrowing as he tried to figure out who the hell  _ Parker _ was. 

“James Parker,” the officer snapped and went to unlock the cell. “How the hell someone like you got on his good side I’ll never guess.” The keys jingled as they turned in the lock and the door opened with a squeal. 

“Ohh, Jimmy,” Klaus said in understanding as he stepped out of the cell. The officer shut it behind him and roughly grabbed his arm to drag him out of the room. Klaus jerked his arm back and paused before turning into the hallway to the lobby. He looked back at Ray, who was watching him carefully. Klaus subtly nodded without breaking eye contact before turning and walking out to find Dave and Jimmy. 

Before he even got to the lobby he could hear tense voices carrying through the halls. One was definitely Jimmy. One was definitely Dave. One was unfamiliar, most likely another officer somewhere. But the last one… Klaus knew that voice too. He steps slowed to a stop as he listened to it. 

How was she here, talking? He could hear her voice; the same voice he used to listen to on TV whenever he ended up in some store or restaurant or shelter that turned on her movie reruns or press interviews inside. The last time Klaus saw her her throat had been cut. She couldn’t speak. They’d found her nearly dead on the floor of some Umbrella Academy revenge seeking serial killer’s cabin in the woods covered in blood. And now he was hearing her voice in a police station in Dallas, Texas in 1963.  _ How was she talking? _

Maybe she’d been here as long as Klaus had. Mom had said there was a chance she could talk again, with time to heal. Maybe she’d been here, healing and living just like Klaus had been. The possibilities raced through Klaus’ mind. She’d been here and he hadn’t known. All the time he’d spent thinking she was gone, but here she was. Maybe the rest of them were okay too. Maybe they were all here somewhere. In the 60s trying their best to adjust to life here and struggling just as much as he had, thinking they were the only one of them that made it. 

He was ripped from his thoughts when the officer walking him down the hall shoved his shoulder. “Keep fuckin’ walkin’.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Klaus muttered, rolling his eyes as he took another step. 

Another turn and he was in the lobby, looking at the backs of Jimmy, Dave, and Allison. Her hair was different, a bit shorter and straightened out, all one dark color that looked a bit wierd to Klaus, who was used to seeing her with bleached, tight curls. She suddenly turned enough for Klaus to see her profile, pinching the bridge of her nose as the officer spoke, and he could see she had thick bangs falling down to her eyebrows. 

He pushed out what felt like the last of the oxygen in his lungs. “Allison.” 

She turned to him, lips pursed in frustration and eyes opening slowly as if she’d closed them to roll her eyes. She looked up and a short second after her eyes focused on him her jaw dropped and her eyes widened as her eyebrows raised so they were hidden behind her bangs. Klaus registered Dave and Jimmy turning around to look at him too, but he didn’t care. He was just focused on seeing his sister for the first time in almost four years. 

“Klaus,” she said, the hand at her face slowly dropping to her side. He let out a soft chuckle, and it seemed to break both of them out of whatever trance they’d ended up in, because they both took a careful step toward the other. Once they’d realized the other had done so as well, they both ran across the lobby and wrapped each other up in a tight, bone crushing hug. 

“Oh my god,” Klaus said, voice breaking as tears began to sting his eyes. 

_ “Klaus,” _ Allison cried. “You’re here. You’re really here.” 

“I thought I was the only one left.” 

“Me too.” 

“What the hell is goin’ on here?” Another voice cut through the room, quickly ending their reunion. Allison took a step back and cleared her throat, looking down at her hands before turning back to the officer behind the desk she had just been standing at. 

“Old friend,” she said firmly. “It’s been a long time.” 

“Get out,” the officer said and gestured toward the door. “All four of you, just get out.” 

Allison pushed her shoulders back and turned on her heels to face the man face to face. “I’m not leaving until I talk to him,” she said. 

“There are  _ tons _ of men in there being held without charge,” Klaus added, throwing an arm back to gesture to the hallway he’d just come from. 

“Hargreeves, shut up. I’m working on that,” Jimmy said, pointing a finger at him. 

Allison took a few steps and sat in a chair pressed against the wall, staring down the officer. He sighed and shook his head, looking down at the desk. 

“Fine,” he sighed. “If I let you go in and talk to him, will all of you  _ leave?” _ He didn’t say it like a question, though it was phrased like one. 

Klaus opened his mouth to respond, but Jimmy beat him to it. “Yes,” he said firmly, glaring at Klaus, a look that told him to keep his mouth shut. “We’ll go as soon as the lady gets a chance to talk to her husband.” 

_ Husband? _

Klaus turned to her and quirked an eyebrow, but she gave him a look that said ‘I’ll tell you later’ as she stood up and walked toward the hallway Klaus had just come from to talk to someone in holding. The officer who had just escorted Klaus out of the cell looked to the man behind the desk, and when he nodded he escorted Allison into the hallway. 

“How the hell do you know her?” Jimmy asked as soon as they were gone. 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, Jimmy,” Klaus said and collapsed into the chair his sister had just stood from. 

“Whatever the hell that means,” Jimmy mumbled under his breath and sighed. “Okay, I have to go talk to someone about  _ all this. _ You two do whatever, I don’t really care.” He turned and started walking to the door. Dave sat down next to Klaus as Jimmy left the building. 

“That was  _ Allison _ Allison?” he asked quietly, turning to face him. Klaus nodded, looking down at his feet but his eyes were unfocused. “You okay?” he asked softly. Klaus nodded again. 

“What if this means they’re all here?” he asked softly and finally looked up at Dave with wide, scared eyes. “What if they’re all here and I just… didn’t look for them? I just lived my life like nothing happened?” 

“Klaus,” Dave said softly and moved to reach out for him but stopped short and looked around the room, pursing his lips before he continued. “Klaus, you didn’t know. You couldn’t have known, there was nothing else you could have done.” 

“But-” 

“Klaus, it  _ isn’t your fault. _ Okay?” Klaus bit his lip and looked away again. “What about Ben?” Dave continued. “Is he here?” 

“No,” Klaus said and shook his head. “I can get him here, though.” He shifted in his seat and closed his eyes to focus on his brother, but Dave stopped him. 

“Maybe not here,” he said carefully. “No offense, but I think your family’s put on enough of a show already.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Klaus agreed, nodding his head a little. “Right.” He sat back in his chair and started bouncing his knee. Usually Dave would have tried to comfort him by placing a hand on his thigh or knee, but he couldn’t this time. So they just waited. 

It was the longest few minutes of Klaus’ life. He looked between the floor under his feet and the doorway Allison disappeared through at every sound. At every creak and footstep and turn of a door handle, he was looking up, hoping to see her face again. The officer at the desk handed Klaus the keys and the few loose coins that were in his pocket when he was arrested at some point, and Klaus noticed in the back of his mind that they didn’t give him his pamphlets back. 

Finally Allison came back, clutching her purse and wide eyes quickly scanning the room. The anxious expression fell off her face and was replaced by a relieved smile when she saw Klaus again. She didn’t get a chance to say anything before the officer at the desk snapped at them again. 

_ “Out!” _

“Okay, okay,” Dave said and raised his hands in surrender as he and Klaus stood up. He ushered the siblings to the door and out the building before either of them could say anything else. As soon as they were outside Klaus spun around to face Allison, pulling her into another tight hug, which she quickly reciprocated. 

“It’s so good to see you,” he whispered to her. 

She held him tighter. “You too.” 

Klaus suddenly pulled away to look at her face, one hand gripping her arm. “What are you- Are you- Do you have anywhere to be?” he asked, eyes wide again. “Can you come with us?” Allison looked between him and Dave before nodding. 

“Come on,” Dave said. “The truck’s around the corner.”

“I can’t believe  _ Klaus _ is the roommate you were talking about,” Allison laughed as she followed them. 

“Oh, were you guys talking about me?” Klaus giggled as they reached the truck. Dave walked around to the driver’s side while Klaus opened the passenger for him and Allison. They all got in with Klaus in the middle between Dave and Allison. He wasted no time leaning over and resting his head on his sister’s shoulder. 

“How long have you been here?” he asked. Allison looked over his head at Dave then back down at Klaus with a raised eyebrow. Klaus looked over at his boyfriend trying to figure out what he question was. It took him a moment to see what she was thinking. “Oh, no. Don’t worry,” he laughed. “Dave knows everything.” 

“Everything?” she repeated questioningly. 

“Well,” Klaus said and tilted his head a bit in thought. “Everything I know, which admittedly probably isn’t anywhere near everything.” He laughed as he remembered all the times he had no fucking clue what his family was talking about. “But he knows enough that an actual answer won’t make him crash the car in shock.” 

“Even if I didn’t, I’ve known you long enough that nothing can shock me anymore,” Dave deadpanned from the driver’s seat without looking away from the road. Klaus sniggered as another small smile grew on Allison’s lips. 

“Umm, it was June of ‘61,” she answered. 

“Little over two years, then?” Klaus asked. 

“Yeah,” Allison said with a nod. “What about you?” 

“February ‘60,” Klaus said. 

“You’ve been here for almost four years?” she asked incredulously. 

“Yup,” Klaus said, popping the  _ p _ between his lips. 

“What have you been doing?” she asked. 

“Oh, you know,” he laughed lightly. “Whatever the fuck I want to, pissin’ people off, bein’ gay, all the good stuff.” 

“Being g…” she trailed off and looked back up at Dave, who just started laughing.

“Really, Allison?” Klaus laughed loudly. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” she yelled and soon the cabin of the truck was full of laughter from the three of them. 

“But what have you been doing?” Klaus asked once the laughter had died down enough for him to speak. “Besides being  _ married?” _

“I’ve been working as a civil rights organizer,” Allison said. “With Ray, my husband. He said you talked to him in there.” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Klaus said quickly. “Wait, he mentioned me?” 

“Well,” Allison said and looked up to the roof of the truck, contemplating. “He talked about a weird white guy he talked to.” 

“Yeah, that’s me,” Klaus laughed again. “What was it? Chestnut? You’re Allison Chestnut?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Nah,” Klaus shook his head. “Doesn’t sound right.” She smacked him on the shoulder with the back of her hand. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” he yelled to get her to stop. 

Klaus barely noticed that they’d come to a stop on the side of the road in front of the store. Allison looked out the window at the store front then looked up and down the street. 

“Where are we?” she asked. 

Dave opened the door on his side of the truck and Klaus gestured for Allison to open the one on her side. She did and they both slid out of their seats. Once outside on the pavement, she looked up and down the street again. 

“Where are we?” she repeated.

“This is my store,” Klaus said with a lift of his chin toward the door as he started digging in his pocket for his keys. 

“You- your  _ store?” _ Allison asked. “What do you do?” 

Klaus smirked as he slid the key in the lock and turned it. “Come on.” He opened the door, leading Dave and Allison inside. He reached the desk and turned the lights on, looking around the room for Ben. He didn’t see him, so he skipped to the back room and peeked inside. Why the hell Ben was hanging out in there, he had no idea, but he was. 

“Hey, come out here,” Klaus told him. “There’s someone out here you need to see.” 

Ben groaned. “If Jill and her mother came back and you want to make fun of me some more I’m going to kill you.” 

“Just fucking look,” Klaus said and turned back around once he was sure Ben was getting up. “He’s coming.” 

“Who?” Allison asked. Klaus heard Ben stop behind him. Klaus turned to face him again to see his reaction to their sister’s voice. Ben’s eyes were wide and darting back and forth between the two of them. Klaus chuckled as Ben ran toward Allison, who was still watching Klaus expectantly. When Ben realized she couldn’t see him he turned to Klaus. 

“Make me visible, you asshole!” 

“Wow. So rude.” 

_ “Klaus!”  _

“Ugh, fine,” Klaus said and focused on doing what he asked. Allison turned suddenly and looked right at Ben. Her mouth fell open and she brought a hand to her face and let out a shaky grasp. 

“Oh,” she cried. “Hi Ben.” He smiled at her and slowly reached out for her. She let out a full, shrieking sob when his hand made solid contact with her arm. “Oh my god!” 

Klaus wasn’t sure which one of them pulled the other into the hug, but the next thing he knew they were hugging. He could  _ see _ them pulling each other closer, so forcefully that they stumbled and Klaus was worried they’d fall to the floor. 

“Awww,” Klaus cooed then deadpanned, “I feel like I’m interrupting.” 

“You are,” Ben said, the sound muffled against Allison’s shoulder. 

“Oh, right, of course,” Klaus said sarcastically. “I’ll just fuck right off then, and you can come with me since you need me to actually interact with anything.” Allison laughed, though it was a bit hysterical. 

“Be nice to your brother, Klaus,” Dave said from where he had taken a seat at the desk. 

“You’re never nice to your brother,” Klaus argued. 

“Well, my brother’s an asshole,” Dave countered. “And yours is not.” 

“Thank you, Dave,” Ben said and finally pulled away from Allison. 

Klaus stomped one foot on the floor like a toddler. “I hate it when you two gang up on me,” he whined. 

“Wh- how- Does this happen… often?” Allison asked, voice unsteady. 

“Yes, because they’re  _ mean,” _ Klaus said. 

“So, you can-” she started then cut herself off. “You make Ben... visible like that… often?” she finally got out, looking between the three of the men. 

“Oh,” Klaus said. “Yeah.” He spread his arms out and gestured around the shop. “It’s actually what I do here. Find people, talk to them. The whole medium, seance thing.” 

“So…” she started carefully, warily eyeing Klaus. “So, you’re sober?” 

“Oh,” Klaus said, deflating a little. He’d just made Ben visible, she had just  _ hugged him, _ and she still doubted, after nearly four years of his life that she didn’t know anything about, that he was sober. He knew she had a reason to, he’d done bad things in the past- a lot of bad things- but fuck, to  _ still _ doubt him. It hurt. “Yeah, yeah. Actually have been since before we all got thrown into a whole new time period.” 

Allison’s eyebrows furrowed again. “Wh- How long bef-”

“Just a few days,” Klaus answered before she could even finish. “I- uhh…” 

He trailed off and looked at both Dave and Ben as he considered his options. How much did he want to get into with his sister who had her own problems and probably wouldn’t believe him anyway? Ben looked pretty neutral on the whole thing, but Dave was watching him sympathetically. He nodded, just enough for Klaus to notice, but he knew what he was thinking. He should try to be more honest with his family, especially since he hadn’t really gotten a chance to with Allison yet. 

“I lost someone a few days before,” he said sheepishly. “I wanted to try to find him.” 

Allison was silent for a moment before quickly saying, “Okay, just to double check you are  _ not _ talking about Dad, right?” 

“O- wha-  _ noo,” _ Klaus sputtered, face pinching in mock offense. He turned away a bit and gagged exaggeratedly at the mere suggestion of  _ wanting _ to speak to his father. “Ugh,  _ no, _ god, I didn’t even wanna talk to him when I died and little girl god  _ forced _ me too, aah no.” 

“I’m sorry, when you  _ what?” _ Allison said. 

“God, you were right,” Dave said lightly. “None of you guys listen to each other.” 

“Okay, in Allison’s defense,” Klaus said, holding up a hand to stop Dave. “She was not there when I tried to tell anybody about that, and the next time we saw each other she was unconscious and bleeding out through her throat and the time after that it was literally the end of the world.” 

“Okay, yeah, sorry, you get a pass on that one,” Dave said quickly, nodding in understanding and putting his feet up on the desk. 

“What the  _ fuck?” _ Allison asked, mouth gaping as she looked at them. 

“When have out lives not been fucked up, Allison?” Klaus laughed. 

“But you  _ died!” _

“I came back.” Klaus shrugged. 

“You didn’t know you would! What even happened?” 

“Oh, you know,” Klaus said lazily. “‘Was at a club. Tried to stop a guy from beating Luther up. Jumped on his back. Fell off and hit my head. Went to whatever kind of fucked up afterlife there is. Talked to Dad. He called me a disappointment and told me he killed himself to get us all back home in time to stop the apocalypse, which obviously didn’t work. Hell, it could be argued that  _ that _ made everything happen, but-” 

“Hold on, no,” Allison said. “You don’t get to add to that without explanation. What the fuck.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“What do I mean?” Allison repeated. “First off, why was Luther at a club?” 

“Oh, he’d just found out Dad sent him to the moon for nothing,” Klaus explained.

“God, the moon,” Dave scoffed quietly behind him. 

“And back at the academy he broke into the liquor and ran off before I could stop him from doing anything stupid,” Klaus continued as if Dave hadn’t spoken. He knew he wouldn’t mind, Dave always got distracted when they talked about people being on the moon at some point. 

“Dad did what?” Allison asked weakly. 

Klaus nodded. “Yup. That much of an asshole.” Allison shook her head in disappointment, pinching the bridge of her nose again. “Yeah, so this guy wanted to fight Luther for dancing with his girlfriend or something and I hit my head trying to stop him.” 

“And you died?” 

“And I died,” Klaus confirmed. 

“And after you died, you talked to Dad?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“And he killed himself?” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said. “And the only people I tried to tell were Luther and Five the next morning, who did not take me seriously  _ at all.” _

“What did Luther say that night?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Oh, I don’t know.  _ When you died and came back to life in the middle of a club?” _

“He… didn’t say anything,” Klaus said. “He was gone when I woke up.” 

Allison was shocked. Klaus watched her mouth open and close as she tried to figure out what to say. She blinked a few times before settling on, “So… Luther just… left you there?” 

“Ehh, that’s not a big deal,” Klaus said and waved it off. “It was the first time he’d let go in his life! He was drunk and high out of his mind, and I of all people cannot blame anyone for something they did while drunk or high out of their mind.” 

“He’s got a point there,” Ben added. “I have seen him do  _ way _ too many stupid things while drunk or high- or both- to let him get away with that.” 

Allison brought her hand to her forehead and sighed. “Well, is there any other news you have to drop on me?” 

Klaus shook his head, feigning thought. “No,” he said lightly. “No, I don’t think so.” Ben raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything. Klaus glanced back at Dave, who didn’t say anything about it either. “What about you?” he changed the topic with a cheerful tone. “Marriage, fighting for your rights, anything else been happening with you?” 

Allison laughed lightly. “The last few years…” she trailed off and shook her head. “They’ve been rough.” 

“Yeah?” Klaus asked sympathetically. 

“Yeah.” She looked like she wanted to say more, so Klaus waited until she was ready. “I couldn’t talk for almost a year. I’ve been working at a salon since I got here. Ray’s group used it as a meeting spot- that’s how we met.” 

“Yeah?” Klaus said slowly, dragging it out to tease her. 

“We actually…” she started and shook her head again. “We organized a sit in at a lunch counter today, then Ray got arrested on those bullshit charges and…” 

“Jimmy’s gonna get him out,” Klaus said. 

“What if he can’t, Klaus?” Allison snapped. “It isn’t the same as getting  _ you _ out.” 

“Jimmy’s good, he has connections,” Klaus tried. 

“Klaus,” she said. “As bullshit as the charges are Ray  _ is _ being held on charges. Getting you out when you were taken in because a cop didn’t like you isn’t the same as getting-” She cut herself off with a huff. 

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Klaus said softly. “Sorry, I didn’t-” 

“No, you were trying to make me feel better-” 

“No, it’s not the same,” Klaus sighed and waved a hand to stop her. “I shouldn’t have tried to say it was. Sorry.” 

“Yeah,” Allison said. “Look, I- I have to go. I have to meet the rest of the group so we can figure out what we wanna do.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Klaus said in understanding. “Of course. Be careful.” 

“I’ll do my best,” Allison said. She turned to where Ben was still sitting and rushed over to give him another hug. She whispered something in his ear that Klaus couldn’t hear, but he figured that was for the best. Probably just more ‘it’s so good to see you’s and ‘I missed you so much’s that he didn’t wanna hear any more of. Then she turned to Dave with a smile. 

“It was nice to meet you,” she said. 

“You too, ma’am,” Dave said with a nod. Allison smiled earnestly. “Do you need a lift somewhere?” 

“Are you sure?” she asked. “I don’t want to be an inconvenience.” 

“No, no, it wouldn’t be,” Dave insisted. “I don’t work today, and Klaus has the shop closed today. Anything we could do wouldn’t be a problem.” 

“I mean…” she said slowly and looked between him and Klaus. “A ride to the salon would be more than great.” 

“Alright,” Dave said and stood up, digging in his pocket for his keys. “You comin’, babe?” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said, taking a step toward them. “Could you take me to the shelter after? See if Jimmy’s there,what’s going on?” 

“‘Course.” 

They left the shop and got into the truck in the same arrangement they’d ridden in on the way there, with Ben crammed on the floor between Klaus and Allison’s feet, uncorporeal. 

Once they were situated in the truck, Allison leaned over to Klaus and softly asked, “Shelter?”

“Yeah, it’s where I stayed when I landed in the 60s. Jimmy owns it,” Klaus said as the truck roared to life. 

“And they just let you stay there? Oh, turn here,” she added to Dave as he started driving. 

“Well, it’s mostly vets,” Klaus explained. “They help each other get jobs and get back on their feet after they get back. Jimmy actually suggested I start talking to ghosts as a job.” 

“Why did you stay at a vet shelter?” Allison asked. Klaus pursed his lips and considered how to answer. 

“Jimmy said it was obvious I’d been through shit,” he settled on. Ben glared at him and muttered something about the truth, but honestly, Klaus didn’t want to get into it all. “And Ben wanted me to stay because he didn’t let alcohol or drugs in the shelter and it would make it easier to stay clean.” 

“I’m glad you did,” she said. 

“Yeah, me too.” And he was. 

“Ooh, take a left and then a right,” Allison said. 

“Got it,” Dave said, and they rode in silence for a moment. 

“Here, you can stop here,” Allsion said as they turned on to a fairly busy road. “The salon is up the street, but I don’t really have the time to explain why I got out of a random truck with two white men in front of the shop to everyone.” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said and took her hand and squeezed it. She squeezed back and opened the door. “Be careful.” 

“I’ll do my best,” she said, letting go of his hand and stepping out of the truck. Klaus made Ben visible again once there was room on the seat for him to squeeze on to it. 

“Bye, stop by the shop again soon,” he said as she softly shut the door next to him. 

“I will,” she said. “I’ll see you soon.” 

Klaus let out a sigh as Dave pulled back onto the road. He let his head fall back against the seat as they turned in the direction of the shop. 

“You could’ve told her everything,” Dave said softly. 

“I didn’t want to get into all of it,” Klaus said. “She’s got enough on her mind already.” 

“Okay.” Dave took one hand of the wheel and took Klaus’ in it. “What are you gonna tell Jimmy?” 

“The truth,” Klaus said. Dave turned to him, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to raise an eyebrow. “That he wouldn’t believe me if I told him.”

“I did.” 

“Well, no offense, babe, but you’re crazy,” Klaus said. 

Dave laughed. “Yeah, maybe.” They rode in silence the rest of the way to the shelter. “You want me to wait?” he asked as he put the truck in park. 

“If you could,” Klaus answered. 

“‘Course,” he said with a smile. He squeezed his hand before letting go to let Klaus get out. 

“I’ll be back as soon as Jimmy’ll let me.” He hopped out of the truck and ran up to the front door. He tried the handle and found it open, so he walked in without hesitation. 

“Hello?” he called. 

“That you, Hargreeves?” Huey’s voice called from another room in the direction of the kitchen. 

“Yeah,” Klaus called back. “Where are you?” 

“Livin’ room!” 

“Got it!” He strolled into the living room lazily, as if he wasn’t anxious to get the news on Jimmy’s progress. “Has Jimmy been up here?” 

“Yeah, he’s in his office,” Huey said. Klaus turned to find him, but he continued. “He said he’ll be out in a minute. Said he had shit he had he was worryin’ about.” 

“Yeah, that might have been my fault,” Klaus said and collapsed onto one of the chairs in the room. 

“Christ, Hargreeves, what did’cha do now?” Huey sighed. 

“Well, the friend in law enforcement that said we wouldn’t cause any problems passing out our fun little pamphlets was in-corr-ect,” Klaus said, emphasizing every syllable in the last word. 

“Oh?” 

“Yeah, got locked up for a bit, made a fuss about all the men in there being held without charges and now he’s trying to help deal with all that. I was wondering if he’d made any progress.” 

“Hmmm,” Huey hummed in understanding. “Well good luck with all that.” 

“Thanks,” Klaus said sarcastically, and turned to the entryway of the living room when he heard heavy, thudding footsteps walking toward them. 

“Ah, Hargreeves,” Jimmy said, entering the room. “I thought I heard’yer dumbass voice in here.” 

“Yup, I’m always here to make things harder for you,” Klaus said with a wide grin. 

“Well, you sure as hell did that this mornin’,” Jimmy grunted. “You here to find out how far I got with all that shit?” 

“Oh, Jimmy,” Klaus sighed playfully. “It’s like you can read my mind.” 

“No thank you,” Jimmy laughed. “I don’t wanna know any of the shit goin’ on in there.” Huey, Jimmy, and Klaus all laughed lightly. 

“Yeah, most days I don’t even want to,” Klaus said. 

“Well,” Jimmy said, tone suddenly serious. “I wasn’t able to get much done. No one wanted to hear anything I had to say.” 

Klaus scoffed and shook his head. “It’s such bullshit.” 

“Yeah, well,” Jimmy said and threw his hands up in surrender. “Unless you got another idea. You wanna break ‘em out? Spook ‘em out?” 

“Ooh, that sounds fun,” Ben said suddenly. Klaus jumped a little when he realized he was there. He didn’t know how long he had been there, he was sure he hadn’t come in with him. 

“What?” he asked. 

“I could go in and scare them. Write out a scary note to let him go or something,” Ben said. 

“Are you serious?” Klaus asked, leaning back in his chair. 

“Yeah,” Ben said, sneering like it was obvious. “I never get to be in on your weird rule breaking. I wanna do something stupid.” 

“So, what? Now you’re all in? Wanna scare some people with some spooky ghost shit?” Klaus asked. 

“Yeah.” Klaus blinked. Ben just stared at him. Klaus blinked again and put his hands on the arm of the chair to push himself up. 

“Alright, let’s go then.” 

“What are you doing, Hargreeves?” Jimmy asked. 

“The less you know the better,” Klaus said and started walking toward the hallway. 

“That doesn’t sound good,” Huey said, though he sounded unconcerned. 

Klaus was too far away to hear anything else either of them said. He rushed out the door and hurried to the truck. 

“Did Jimmy get anything done?” Dave asked as he slid into the seat. 

“No, but we have a plan,” Klaus said and pulled the door shut behind him. 

“Who’s  _ we?” _ Dave asked carefully and pulled the truck onto the street. 

“Me and Ben.” 

“Is it you dragging Ben along or was it something you came up with together?” 

“It was Ben’s idea.” 

“Oh, okay,” Dave said, obviously calming down a little. He decided to just let Dave think it was a sensible Ben idea. Again, the less he knew the better. “Where am I going?” 

“Back to the station,” Klaus told him. 

“Alright.” 

Klaus’ leg bounced against the floor of the cabin the entire way there. The grin on Ben’s face did nothing to calm him down. Seeing Ben that excited about something like scaring some cops, as much as Klaus loved to see it, also worried him. 

“Is there a particular reason you want to do it like this?” he asked him. 

Ben turned to him. “Being kinda stupid looks fun.” He paused with a tilt of his head while he thought about how to explain that statement. “Watching you the last few years has been so much better than before Dad died. I wanna try it.” 

“What a sudden change of heart on the topic,” Klaus teased. 

Ben shrugged. “I don’t know what else to tell you. Maybe seeing Allison made me too happy to think straight.” 

“Okay, I’ll take it,” Klaus said and leaned back against the seat. 

“Something is making me think this isn’t a usual kind of Ben plan,” Dave said, eyes flicking quickly between Klaus and the road. 

“The less you know the better,” Klaus said. 

“Wow, okay, great,” Dave sighed. Klaus shot him a wide grin as they pulled into the parking lot for the police station. 

“Be right back,” he said as jumped out of the truck once it came to a stop. 

“Don’t get caught,” Dave said. 

“I’ll do my best.” Klaus and Ben made their way up to the station doors. “Okay, go in and get a look before you do anything. Let me know your plan before you do anything so I know if I’ll need to run.” 

“Got it,” Ben said. 

Klaus nodded as he opened the door. “Okay, I’m gonna hang out here,” he said and gestured to the chairs by the door around the corner from the lobby. “You go look around and come back in a few minutes.” 

“Got it,” Ben repeated and turned to the lobby. Klaus settled in a seat and waited, fingers tapping on his thighs. Ben showed back up a moment later, more excited than Klaus can ever remember seeing him. 

“Dude, they have a typewriter,” he hissed through his smile. “Can I type something creepy out?” 

“Fuckin’ go for it man,” Klaus said, and Ben was gone as soon as he waved his hand to dismiss him. A few minutes later, Ben sauntered back into the hallway, not breaking eye contact with Klaus as he held his middle and index fingers up to his lips and blew as if blowing smoke away from the barrel of a revolver. “Don’t get cocky,” Klaus scolded, but got distracted when Ray walked into the hallway. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Klaus. 

“You?” he asked, shocked. “You got me out?” 

“I did my best,” Klaus said, speaking his arms out as he stood up. 

“Well, apparently it was enough. Thank you.” 

“Hey, no problem, anything for-” 

“Shut up!” Ben snapped, cutting him off. Klaus raised an eyebrow but didn’t finish. “Let Allison do the talking to him, please.” Klaus turned back to Ray. 

“You need a ride somewhere?” he asked him. “My roommate’s waiting out in the truck if you need to get somewhere.” 

“I mean…” Ray said skeptically, looking between Klaus and where the empty space he had just been looking at. “I wouldn’t want to be a bother.” 

“No, no, you wouldn’t be,” Klaus insisted, and waved him along as he walked to the door. “Come on.” Ray took a step following him and Klaus turned all the way around as he pushed the door open. He held the door and gestured for Ray to go through first. He did so, watching him carefully as he walked past. 

Klaus led him to where Dave had parked the truck. He pointed it out to Ray and opened the door, climbing in so they could sit in the same arrangement as when Allison was in the truck. 

“So, where can we take you?” Klaus asked. Dave turned to look at them and grinned as if he’d been expecting Klaus to invite him along the entire time. 

“Um, if you could take me home,” Ray said, still sounding unsure about the whole situation. 

“Yeah, just tell me where to go,” Dave said and put the truck in gear. “Which way am I turning up here?” 

“Oh, um, left,” Ray said. 

“Got it.” There was a moment where no one said anything as Dave pulled onto the road. “I’m Dave, by the way,” he eventually added. 

“Ray.” 

“I’d shake your hand but I don’t think that would be the best idea if we don’t wanna end up in the left lane.” 

“I’m sure.” 

They sat in more silence for another moment before Klaus couldn’t take it anymore. He started talking about absolutely nothing, hoping one of the others would jump into the conversation. He pointed out cute paint jobs on houses they drove past, flowers people had planted on their yards, outfits people walking on the sidewalks were wearing. The only time any of the others spoke was Ray when he was giving Dave directions. 

Eventually they came to a stop across the street from the cute brick house on a corner Ray was pointing at. There was a blue car parked on the curb in front of the house, and when Ray’s eyes landed on it his eyebrows furrowed. 

“I don’t know who…” he trailed off. Klaus looked over at the car, but his eyes quickly moved to the large figure standing on the path leading up to the front door. And when he said large, he meant  _ large. _ Klaus had only ever seen one person that big, such broad shoulders and a tight shirt hugging the muscles of his arms. 

“Is that-” Ben started from where he’d been sitting on the dashboard. 

_ “Luther.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eyyyy the siblings are showing up !!! come talk to me on tumblr about tua @ lastyoungrene-gay-de


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> more siblings are found more chaos ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey i know it's been a while since i updated but here is a medium length chapter.

“Would someone mind explaining to me what the hell is going on here?” 

Klaus looked away from Luther, who was standing in front of Allison’s house as if he’d known the two of them had just found each other again, and turned to Raymond. He couldn’t stop himself from cringing when he realized the ‘weird and mysterious’ guy he probably looked like to him was becoming more of a ‘creepy and stalking’ guy. Any hopes he had of not telling him much and letting Allison to the explaining were quickly diminishing. 

“Alright, uhh…” Klaus muttered and began tapping his index fingers on the dashboard of Dave’s truck. 

“Here we fucking go,” Ben muttered. 

_ “Shut it,” _ Klaus hissed, eyes quickly darting over to Ben without meaning to. Unfortunately, Ray noticed. 

“Okay, I appreciate you getting me out and giving me a ride, but…” Ray trailed off as he looked down and began fumbling with the handle on the door. 

“But you think I’m crazy,” Klaus finished for him. He threw his hands up in mock defeat and looked over at Dave without waiting for Ray’s response. “He thinks I’m crazy.”

“Well, yeah I can see why,” Dave said. 

“Klaus, explain,” Ben said. 

“You told me to let Allison explain,” he snapped at his brother, ignoring Dave for the moment. 

“Allison?” Ray repeated, quickly turning back to them with a shocked expression. “You know Allison?” 

“Uhh…” Klaus looked between Ray, Ben, and Dave a few times before sighing and giving up. His shoulders slumped as he answered. “Yeah. You’re not gonna believe me, but she’s my sister.” Ray managed to look even more confused. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Klaus continued before he could. “Our family is complicated and  _ beyond _ fucked up, but that guy is also our brother and  _ of course _ he shows up again right in the middle of all this-” 

“You’re rambling,” Dave pointed out. 

“Right,” Klaus said and let out a forceful breath as he tried to figure out how to wrap it up. “So I need to go grab him, and we’ll get out of your hair, okay?” He reached over Ray and shoved the door all the way open from when Ray had already gotten it unlatched. 

“Oh, uhh-” Ray tried to say something, but he stopped when Klaus kept leaning over and crawled over his lap and tumbled out of the truck. “What the-” 

“Fuck, Klaus,” he heard Dave say, but he ignored him in favor of yelling at his brother. 

“Luther!” Klaus yelped as he almost face planted on the concrete road under the truck. Luther spun around as Klaus scrambled back to his feet and scampered across the street. 

“Klaus?” he asked incredulously, eyebrows furrowing as his eyes followed Klaus across the street. “Wha-” 

“Get in the car,” he demanded before he could finish his question, throwing his arm back to point at the truck. He didn’t take his eyes off Luther, who was frozen where he stood, even as he heard the truck shifting and heard Ray’s footsteps on the street. He watched his eyes flick back and forth between Klaus and the people behind him. 

“Say exactly as I say to try to get us out of this as cleanly as possible,” Ben said, silently stepping up so he was beside Klaus. No one moved, including Klaus, which Ben must have taken as an agreement to his plan. “Luther, we need to clear everything up before any of us try to say anything right now.” 

Klaus had other plans. “Luther, shut up and get in the car.” Ben groaned next to him. 

Luther’s eyebrows managed to furrow even more. “I d… I didn’t even say anything,” he said, confusion clear in his voice too. 

“Keep it that way.” Klaus straightened his elbow out all the way, tensing his arm so it looked like he was pointing again. 

“I’m gonna have to ask you guys to leave,” Ray’s voice came from right behind Klaus. He spun to face him, letting his hand drop to the side. 

“I’m working on it,” he told him and quickly turned back to Luther, his hair flying as he spun around. “Now,” he insisted. 

Luther finally snapped out of whatever shocked trance he was in from seeing Klaus again and him immediately yelling at him and took a few slow steps toward Dave’s truck. His eyes didn’t leave Klaus as he did, watching him like he would watch an animal he was scared of startling. Klaus followed him with his own eyes until he was standing next to the truck with one hand reaching for the door. 

Klaus turned back to Ray with a forced smile. “Sorry about all this. I’m sure Allison’ll explain it all. She’s gotta be used to stuff like this from us all the time. Good luck with everything.” He gave him one last smile, flashing his teeth again, before turning back to the car, leaving Raymond standing in the street with his mouth hanging open and eyes wide, shocked into silence by the Hargreeves’ chaos. 

He slid into the car and pulled the door shut behind him, distantly nothing how the truck seemed lower to the ground than it did earlier. He heaved out a sigh as he turned to Dave and Luther in the cabin next to him. 

“I hate this fucking family,” he said and put his head in his hands. 

“You say that way too often,” Dave deadpanned and put the truck in gear and drove away from the house. No one said anything about how the truck groaned as it slowly rolled into motion. 

“Okay, what the hell, Klaus?” Luther asked, sounding exasperated and waving his arms around as he asked. “Who was that? Why were you there?” 

“That was Allison’s  _ husband _ and we were giving him a ride home from jail, where  _ I _ also was, where we saw Allison again for the first time in years,” Klaus explained, snapping every point as he did. 

“Don’t forget I broke him out!” came a voice from the floor. 

“And Ben broke him out!” Klaus added, pointing back in the direction they’d come from to show he meant Ray. 

“Don’t yell that,” Dave said defeatedly from the driver’s seat. 

But Luther wasn’t paying attention at that point. His face had lost most of its color after Klaus’ first few words. He stared blankly at Klaus for a moment before turning and looking through the windshield with his mouth hanging open. 

“She’s… she’s married?” he asked weakly after a moment. 

“Oh, come on,” Klaus said, pinching his face in disgust. “That’s what you have to say about this? You’re upset she’s  _ married?” _

“Oh, come on man, that’s disgusting,” Dave said glancing between the road and Luther with an equally disgusted expression. 

“Wha-” 

“She’s your  _ sister!” _

“And who the hell are you?” Luther scoffed. 

“I’m Dave,” Dave said forcefully, as if that was supposed to mean anything to Luther. 

It didn’t, so he turned to Klaus with a puzzled and unbelieving expression. “Who the hell is this guy?” 

“This is my boyfriend,” Klaus said simply. “He knows everything, and he’s right. Your thing with Allison is disgusting.” 

“I say so too!” 

“Ben says so too,” Klaus repeated without looking away from Luther. His eyebrows managed to furrow even more.

“Ben?” Klaus made the conscious effort to make Ben visible, and a moment Luther’s eyes moved to the spot he was sitting at on the floor and his mouth stretched into a smile instead of a confused “O” shape. “Ben!” 

“You’re disgusting,” Ben said without bothering with a greeting. Luther’s face fell again as Dave tried to stifle his laughter next to him. 

“Well, when we were younger-” 

“When we were younger we literally knew nine people!” Ben said. “And one of them was a robot, another was a talking monkey, and another was our abusive asshole of a father! Nothing that happened when we were younger should be used as an appropriate standard for a way to live your life now.” 

“Unless it’s an example of how not to treat children,” Dave added as he turned the truck onto a busy street. 

“Unless it’s an example of how not to treat children!” Ben repeated emphatically. 

“Can you not yell?” Dave asked quickly. “I need to focus on the road and be able to hear cars around me so we don’t all fucking die.” 

“Well, I’m already dead,” Ben pointed out. “So I don’t care.” 

“Don’t be an asshole,” Dave half laughed half snapped. 

“Hold on,” Klaus said and leaned forward so he could see Dave around his huge brother. “Earlier with Allison you told me  _ not _ to call him an asshole, you asshole.” 

“No, I told you not to be mean to him,” Dave corrected. “It’s not the same thing.” 

“And calling him an asshole isn’t mean?” 

_ “You _ just called  _ me _ an asshole,” Dave pointed out and turned to meet Klaus’ eyes. “Are you really being mean to me?” 

“I mean… no,” Klaus admitted. 

Dave sat back against his seat. “See. It’s fine.” 

“I want out of this car,” Luther said suddenly, his hands curling into fists on top of his thighs. 

“Well, that sucks because we have shit to talk about,” Klaus snapped. He leaned back against his seat and scooched all the way to the right so he was pressed up against the door and casually draped his left arm along the back of the seat. “So, have you seen any of the others?” he asked as if he hadn’t basically just told him to shut the fuck up.

Luther looked at him incredulously and shook his head, but still answered, “Yeah, Five showed up the other day. Says he just got here.” 

“How long have you been here?” Klaus asked softly. 

“About a year,” Luther answered with a huff. “You?” 

“Almost four.” 

_ “What?” _

“Yeah, we landed in... February of ‘60?” he said, unsure of himself and turning to Ben. 

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “That sounds right.” 

“And what have you been doing?” Luther questioned skeptically. 

“Ghost stuff,” Klaus answered simply. 

“Ghost stuff?” Luther repeated incredulously with a tilt of his head and quirk of an eyebrow. 

“Yeah,” Klaus said with a nod. “Ya know, seances and shit. That is kinda my whole thing.” 

“How?” 

“How?” Klaus repeated. “What do you mean ‘how’?” 

“If this is another ‘are you sober’ set up I’m crashing this car,” Dave said harshly from the other side of Luther. “Ben is  _ right there, _ if you ask if he’s sober I am personally going to kick your ass out of my truck.” Luther shut his mouth with an audible clacking of his teeth. “Are you kidding me?” 

“No, no, no,” Luther quickly jumped to defend himself. “I just meant, like- how? Who are you doing it for? Where? That kinda stuff.” 

“Oh,” Dave said dejectedly. “Sorry.” Klaus looked between them with a smirk, knowing that was what Luther meant but managed to save himself. He appreciated Dave saying it anyway. 

“I have a little shop in town where I do seances and things like that,” Klaus answered Luther’s question. “Made a whole business out of it,” he added with a grin. “Look at me, being a functioning human being. Who saw that one coming?” 

“Sure as shit not me,” Ben grumbled from the ground. 

“What about you?” Klaus asked him. “What have you been up to for the last year?” 

Luther pursed his lips and looked straight ahead through the windshield again. “Not very good stuff.” 

“Fair enough.” 

“Is it though?” Ben asked, looking up at Klaus skeptically. 

Klaus shrugged. “None ‘a my business.” 

“Is there somewhere you want us to take you?” Dave asked from the driver’s seat. 

“Actually yeah, I have to run some errands for my boss before I go in to work later,” Luther said, shifting in his seat. “You can just drop me anywhere, really.” 

“You sure?” Dave asked. 

“Yeah, it’s fine.” 

“Alright,” Dave said and changed lanes to try to turn onto a less busy street. They were all silent for a moment until he slowed the car to a stop against the curb. Klaus pushed the door open and stepped out onto the sidewalk to give Luther enough room to get out himself. Klaus was about to climb back into the truck when Luther gasped. 

“Oh, hey, where did you land when you got here?” he asked. 

“Umm,” Klaus said, confused by the sudden question. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked back to Ben. “An alley in town, by a diner and a movie theater and other shops.” 

Luther nodded. “Okay, yeah. So did I. Five said he did too. In the back of that alley, there’s a TV or electronics shop that’s shut down, but the guy who owns it is still there. Five says he’s staying there with that guy.” 

“Really?” Klaus asked, unable to stop his eyes from widening. 

“Yeah,” Luther said with a nod. “You know what I’m talking about?” 

“No, but I’m sure I can find it,” he answered. 

“Alright,” Luther said anticlimactically with a small nod. 

“Okay.” 

They looked at each other awkwardly for a moment before Klaus finally gave up and turned back to the truck. He climbed inside and pulled the door shut behind him. 

“Do you have time to drive me around some more?” he asked, turning to Dave. 

“Yeah, babe,” he said with a nod. “Whatever you need.” 

“You’re the fucking best.” 

“I’ve been told,” Dave laughed. 

“I showed you where I landed in ‘60, right?” Klaus asked as Dave got the truck on the road again. 

“The alley? Yeah,” Dave said. 

Klaus nodded once, firmly. “Take me there. Luther said Five is staying somewhere over there.” 

“Got it,” he answered and checked the road signs to figure out exactly where they were. They sat in silence as he made a few turns, Ben eyed Klaus suspiciously as he tapped his fingers nervously on his thighs. He waited until his leg started bouncing to say anything. 

“Why exactly are we going there, Klaus?” Ben asked. 

“Luther said Five is there,” Klaus said. 

Ben perked up. “Really?” Klaus nodded. Dave took one hand off the wheel and gently set it on Klaus’ thigh. Klaus grabbed it with his own but didn’t say anything else, worrying his bottom lip instead. 

“Are you ready for this?” Dave asked. “Spending so long without them, not knowing anything, and suddenly seeing at least three of them within a few hours… it must be a lot.” Klaus just hummed in response, still not releasing his lip from his teeth. “Do you want me to go with you or should I find something else to do?” 

“Come,” Klaus said weakly. “Please.” Dave squeezed his hand in response. 

A moment later, they turned onto the street Klaus landed on in 1960. As they drove past the alleyway, Klaus turned to keep his eyes on it as they passed by, even turning in his seat to watch as it faded from view again. 

“God,” Klaus muttered softly. “This morning I was in jail and thought my siblings were all dead.” 

“I actually am dead,” Ben said, smirking like a smartass. “So…” 

“Yeah, I know that, shit heel,” Klaus snapped. “You know what I fucking meant.” Dave slowed the truck to a stop, pulling into a parking spot around the corner from the alley. 

“You ready?” he asked. 

“No,” Klaus sighed honestly. Dave squeezed his hand one last time before letting go and opening the car door. Klaus let out another deep sigh and did the same. 

Klaus quickly led them to the building on either side of the alley and walked into it, looking at the building carefully. As he looked around he saw an array of satellites and radio equipment set up on the roof. “Somebody’s paranoid,” he muttered. There was a rusty metal door set in the dirty wall with a faded sign that Read “Morty’s Television and Radio: Shipping and Receiving”. He turned to Ben, who was watching him curiously, and took the few steps to the door and tried to turn the handle. 

“Maybe this person isn’t so paranoid,” he said as it turned and allowed him to push the door open. 

“You sure this is a good idea, babe?” Dave asked slowly. 

“No,” Klaus said as he took a step inside. 

“Alright,” Dave replied dejectedly and followed him as Klaus looked around the building. 

The floor and walls were covered in a kind of off-white or pale yellow tiles, Klaus couldn’t really tell in the low light. Horrible, harsh yellow lights were hanging high up on the wall near the corner where it met the ceiling. Against the wall across from the door was a staircase leading up to higher floors. He turned to Dave, who was looking up at the doors as well, before heading over to the staircase. Both Dave and Ben followed him. 

When they got high enough up the stairs to see the second floor, Klaus could see two doors, one straight ahead of them with a frosted glass window set in it and the other in the wall on their right. When they reached the floor he saw the second one was just a plain, painted wood door. 

“Did Luther say anything about what door it is?” Ben asked unhelpfully, as if Klaus wasn’t unsure what to do next.

“Nope,” he responded shortly. He looked over at Dave, who shrugged and raised his eyebrows as if saying  _ ‘I don’t know’ _ , so without thinking about it anymore Klaus lifted his hand and knocked on the door. Nothing happened for a moment, then they heard hurried shuffling coming from the other side of the door. Klaus looked between Ben and Dave, all three of their expressions the same; eyebrows furrowed and eyes wide and suspicious in confusion. Klaus looked back just in time to see the door open, but it jerked to a stop a split second later by a fastened chain lock attached to the door frame. 

Klaus saw movement at eye level through the gap in the door, and a man shifted to the side so Klaus could only see an eye and a sliver of his face. “Who are you?” he asked timidly. “What do you want?” 

Klaus looked back at Dave quickly before turning back to the man behind the door. “Hi, sorry to bother you, but would you happen to know where I could find a grumpy little teenager?” he asked with the customer service voice he used at the shop with new customers and a fake smile. “Probably drinking too much coffee or rambling on under his breath and snapping when you don’t understand what he’s saying?” 

The eye flicked from Klaus to Dave then back again. Everything was silent for a moment, and Klaus was convinced the guy was either going to start screaming at them or pass out. Then the door slammed suddenly, and Klaus’ shoulders slumped when he realized he probably wasn’t in the right place. There was a faint  _ clink _ from the other side of the door, then it swung all the way open. 

“He’s not here right now,” the man said slowly, still eyeing the two (but actually three) of them warily. Klaus felt his heart pound a little harder in his chest when he registered the implication of the sentence. 

“But he was at some point?” he asked, eyes widening a bit. “Do- do you know where I can find him now?” 

“No. He just said something about looking for someone and left.” 

“Yeah, that sounds like him,” Klaus sighed. He heard footsteps approaching from inside the… room? apartment? Klaus wasn’t sure, but now there was a girl with dark skin and rough, uneven black hair standing wearing a short patterned dress over a white t-shirt standing in the doorway next to the man. 

“Who the hell are you?” she asked with a voice with a British accent and an aggressive tilt of her head. She looked them both up and down as Klaus processed the new arrival. 

“Who the hell are  _ you?” _ he shot back, pushing his shoulders back unconsciously. 

“Who the hell am  _ I?” _ she asked incredulously with a scoff. “You show up here, where I’m already staying with my new friend Elliot-” 

“Don’t say my name,” the man turned to her and hissed. She just rolled her eyes and continued. 

“-and you ask who  _ I _ am?” 

“Uhhh, yeah,” Klaus said as if it were obvious. “I was told I could find someone I know here, so why are  _ you _ here too? Because something makes me doubt you and Mister Paranoid Over Names With Satellite and Radio Equipment Up On The Roof are best buds.” 

“Be careful,” Dave said lowly from behind him. “Don’t piss anyone off.” 

“I think it’s too late for that,” Klaus responded without looking back at him. The woman opened her mouth to say something else, but was beat by another voice from inside. 

“Who the hell is it?” Diego’s voice asked. Klaus couldn’t stop the smile that grew on his face at hearing his other brother’s voice after so long. 

“Hey,” the woman turned toward him and snapped. “Go sit back down. It might do you some good considering you literally got fucking stabbed yesterday.” 

Klaus couldn’t help but laugh. “Funny. Usually Diego’s the one doing the stabbing.” 

His naming the third person in what Klaus could only assume was some kind of apartment at this point- how else could there be three people in there, one of them being his brother  _ without _ killing one of the others- was met with silent stares from the other two people. 

He heard a few more shuffling steps accompanied by Diego’s voice asking, “Klaus?” incredulously before he appeared in the doorway with the rest of them. He looked like shit, Klaus noticed. He had to have been in the sixties long enough for his hair to grow out. It now hung down to about his chin, and was ratty and tangled. He had dark circles under his eyes and was hunched over slightly, causing him to have to look up at Klaus through his eyelashes, which just made him look grouchy and downright murderous. 

“So who stabbed you?” was all Klaus said with a smirk. 

Diego leaned against the doorframe next to the woman and glared at him. “Dad.”

“Damn, okay then,” Klaus said and tried to process the different situations that could have led to that. “I would’ve bet on Five, but I will admit I didn’t see that one coming.” 

“Oh, god,” Ben groaned from where he was still waiting, invisible, behind him. “What version of Dad did these idiots find?” 

Klaus turned back to acknowledge him. “Good question, but I don’t really care.” Dave shoved his shoulder lightly and Klaus pursed his lips to stop himself from smiling again. 

“Diego, who the hell is this?” the woman asked plainly, turning to look at him with a blank expression. 

“This is our other brother, Klaus,” Diego explained and pushed himself off the doorframe. “Come in, I’ll catch you up.” 

“Sounds great,” Klaus said, giving the woman a large grin as she stepped out of the way to let them in. “This is Dave, by the way,” he added and gestured over his shoulder to his boyfriend, who no doubtedly waved with a bright grin. 

“Hi,” Diego said gruffly. He led them through a small kitchen area and into a kind of living room with a few chairs and a couch scattered around a short coffee table. Diego dropped onto the couch with a huff and a second later Lila sat down next to him. Elliot sat on one of the chairs, leaving Klaus and Dave standing, not really sure where to go. Klaus decided to walk over to a kind of railing at the end of the room, with what was clearly a lot of space between it and the door. One either side there was a set of stairs, leading down into a long abandoned storefront. 

“What the hell kind of living arrangement is this?” he asked. 

“Does it matter?” Diego shot back. 

He shrugged. “Just curious.” 

“So,” Diego started again and sighed as he shifted on the couch. “How’d Five find you?” 

“Oh, he didn’t,” Klaus said, turning around to walk back to the rest of them. Looking around at the available seats, he decided to perch himself on the arm of the chair Dave was sitting in instead of trying to move a different one. “I found Luther. Completely by accident, though. He told me Five said something about being around here somewhere.” Diego nodded thoughtfully. “What about you?” Klaus asked. 

“Mental hospital,” Diego said shortly. 

Klaus leaned back against the side of the chair. “Surprised they didn’t throw me into one of those.” 

“Lucky Jimmy realized you just needed a place to sleep,” Dave muttered under his breath. 

“Actually it was Huey,” Klaus corrected. “And he  _ easily _ could have thrown my ass in a padded cell considering he found me sitting on the sidewalk talking to  _ myself.” _ He made air quotes with his fingers as he said the last word, since it quickly became clear someone else was actually there. 

“Well, then who were you talking to?” Lila asked, lifting her chin as she spoke. 

Rather than answering, Klaus did the dramatic thing and made Ben visible. Elliot, Diego, and Lila all gasped as the soft blue glow emanating from his form lit up the room from where he was standing behind the couch Diego and Lila were on. Klaus yawned exaggeratedly and leaned to the side so he was pressed against Dave’s side. 

“B-Ben?” Diego finally broke the silence a moment later, voice wavering a bit. 

“Hey man,” Ben responded with a casual lift of his chin. 

“Wha..” Diego whispered breathily. He looked back at Klaus with wide eyes. “How…” 

Klaus held his hands up by his face, palms out toward the others, and gave them an impressive display of jazz hands. “Sobriety,” he said dramatically with a large, showy smile. 

“Seriously? Diego asked flatly and raised his eyebrows. Klaus could feel Dave tense and sit up straighter and saw him out of the corner of his eye tilt his head a little bit to the side. All the while Lila and Elliot continued to stare at Ben with their mouths agape. 

“What exactly-” 

Klaus put his hand on Dave’s shoulder to cut him off, which worked, thankfully. “Yeah, yeah,” he said, ignoring Diego’s eyes bouncing between him and Dave. “Yeah, been sober for a while now. Turns out you bores were right, being sober has been  _ great _ for me.” 

Diego nodded solemnly. “Good for you, man.” 

“Yeah, it was rough,” Klaus said slowly, not breaking eye contact with his brother. “But I got there.” 

“Good,” Diego said. “I’m glad.” 

“Are we just going to ignore the fucking see-through glowing blue man in the room right now?” Lila bursted out before Klaus could say anything else. He looked over at her to see wide eyes and a hand gesturing back toward Ben while the other waved around frantically. 

“Right, sorry,” Diego said and looked back over his shoulder at his deceased brother. “Hi, it’s good to see you. Been a long time. Klaus kept claiming you were here.” 

“And I was, you guys are just assholes,” Ben snapped. Diego blinked and pulled his head back a little in shock, clearly thrown off by his words and tones of voice. “I mean, don’t get me wrong here, Klaus was being an asshole too so I can see where you were coming from with the whole thing but that doesn’t mean you weren’t being assholes.” 

“Ha!” Lila laughed shortly from Diego’s side, looking between the two of them. When Diego clearly didn’t understand what she was laughing at she elaborated. “He called you an asshole. And you  _ are _ an asshole,” she explained. Diego rolled his eyes as Klaus snorted, gaining Lila’s attention again. 

“Got that right,” he said when she raised her eyebrows expectantly. She smiled, not a huge smile but it was also clear she was trying to suppress it, and nodded quickly. 

“You get it,” she laughed, pointing at him. He pointed back at her and nodded as well. 

“Eh, no,” Diego snapped and sat up so he wasn’t slumped against the couch anymore. He pointed between the two of them as he continued. “You two can’t gang up on me.” 

“So I can gang up with one of them?” Ben asked, successfully inserting himself back in the conversation now that he was actually able to. 

“No!” Diego said, whipping around to look at him again, long hair flying as he did. Klaus just started laughing again. 

Lila looked back up at Ben, apparently no longer shocked to see a ghost standing in front of her.  _ Whatever, _ Klaus thought. Depending on how long she’s been hanging out with Diego she’s used to weird shit anyway. It’s what you got with the Hargreeves. 

“So, who the hell are you anyway?” she asked, craning her neck to look back at him. 

“I’m Klaus and Diego’s ghost brother,” he explained simply. 

“How can we see you?”

“It’s kinda Klaus’ thing.” 

“Cool.” 

“Thanks,” Klaus added. Lila turned back to him and nodded again. Now he felt bad for kind of being an asshole to her when he got to the apartment.  _ Oh well, she didn’t seem to be too upset about it,  _ Klaus thought with an internal shrug. 

“Hey, Elliot, you okay over there?” Diego asked, side-eyeing Elliot where he sat silently in his chair. Klaus looked over at him too, noticing how his mouth was now opening and closing again every few seconds and his hand moved quickly so he pointed around at everyone else in the room. Klaus almost laughed at how stunned he still was about it all. Finally, his hand came to a stop pointing at Ben. 

“You- You’re  _ dead? _ ” he asked, voice cracking as he spoke. 

“Yup,” Ben said shortly. 

“You’re a  _ ghost? _ ” 

“Yup.” 

His hand whipped around so he was pointing at Klaus. “You did this?” 

“Yup,” Klaus said in the same flat tone as Ben. 

Elliot moved to Diego. “And you  _ knew? _ ” 

“Yup.” 

Dave. “And  _ you _ knew?” 

“Yeah,” Dave said with a shrug as if Elliot wasn’t losing his mind across the room. 

_ “How?!” _

“Not sure,” Klaus shrugged. “But I can. Have you never seen his knife thing?” he asked and pointed toward Diego with his thumb. “It’s the same random thing.”

_ “Random thing?” _ Diego repeated. “That’s how you’re gonna describe it?” 

“You wanna try?” Klaus scoffed. 

Diego slumped back against the couch. “No.” 

“Cool, then get over it.” 

_ “Knife thing?!” _ Elliot yelled. 

“Yeah,” Diego said simply and waved his hand around vaguely. “And Five’s space jumps. We all have some kind of thing we can do- powers or whatever.” 

“Wha…” 

“Speaking of, where is the little bastard?” Klaus asked as he crossed his legs and placed his hand on his knee. 

“Out,” Diego answered. “Not entirely sure what he was doing. I was a little busy making sure I didn’t get too fucked up by my stab wound.” 

“Fair enough,” Klaus said, twisting his lips into an exaggerated frown and tilting his head in a  _ ‘why fucking not’ _ kind of expression. 

Diego opened his mouth again, but Ben spoke before he could say anything. “So how exactly did you end up in a situation where Dad could stab you?” 

“Okay, so,” Diego said with a heavy sigh, looking distractedly down at the floor below him. “Five ended up getting his hands on footage from JFK’s assassination,” he stated, putting his hands out in front of his as if they were holding something in his lap. 

“Okay,” Klaus said casually. 

“How?” Ben asked exasperatedly. 

“Said something about Hazel-” Klaus tensed in his seat at the sound of that name. “-giving it to him when he landed in this time then jumped back a few days using an actual time machine and he gave it to him when they landed here a few days ago,” Diego answered, eyes moving around as he thought as if following an invisible timeline in the air above him. Dave took Klaus’ hand and gave it a gentle, comforting squeeze. He looked down at him with a small smile before looking back to Diego. 

“How does this relate to Dad?” Ben asked. 

Diego turned his head on his neck to look at the ghost. “Dad was on the footage, standing on the grassy knoll when Kennedy is shot.” 

They sat for a moment in silence, all looking at each other before Klaus finally spoke again. 

“Why doesn’t that fucking surprise me?” he asked, throwing his hands up in the air and letting them drop dramatically. 

“Of  _ course _ it all has something to do with Dad,” Ben sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“So yeah, we went to his company office thing and I got in a fight with him before I realized it was him. Then he stabbed me,” Diego finished explaining. 

“Fun,” Klaus deadpanned. 

“It really wasn’t,” Diego said, shaking his head. 

“Fine, fun _ ny _ then,” Klaus corrected. 

“I fucking hate you,” Diego growled. 

“Yeah, whatever.” 

“God, you’re family is fucked,” Lila scoffed, shifting in her seat. 

“Yeah, we are,” Diego agreed and rolled his head on his shoulders to look at her and Elliot again. “Did I forget anything?” 

“Oh, yeah,” Lila said and pointed at Diego. “The end of the world thing.” 

“Oh, yeah,” Diego said and raised a hand, as if he forgot something like that. Klaus looked over as Dave, who looked as confused and worried as he was. “We brought the end of the world back with us. We have like a week left. 

“We what?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter took so long! i've gotten really caught up in drawing rather than writing but i promise i didn't forget about this. (if anyone has any interest in seeing my art my art instagram account is @ lastyoungrene.gay.de_art). and as always, my tumblr is @ lastyoungrene-gay-de come talk to me about tua and get art and writing updates!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey just a head up there is discussion of anti-semitism in this chapter. there isn't and straight up anti-semitism but s2 made some Choices and dave has some thoughts.

Klaus stared at his brother with his mouth open in shock.  _ Another _ apocalypse?  _ Another _ end of the world? How unlucky could this fucking family be? 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he asked Diego, who was still sprawled out across the couch. 

“No.” Diego shook his head. “Luther didn’t say anything? Five said he found him first and tried to get his help but he pretty much told him to fuck off.”

“No, he didn’t say anything about it,” Klaus said lightly, staring at the floor wondering why, out of all of them,  _ Number One _ wouldn’t care about the end of the world. He slumped on the arm of the chair and slid into the seat onto Dave’s lap. He put his hand on his shoulder without missing a beat, seemingly deciding a few days before the end of the world wasn’t the time to worry about being too affectionate in front of other people. 

“Does he have a plan?” he asked. 

“I don’t know. Obviously, we tried to find Dad, but that just got me stabbed. I’m not really sure what comes next.” 

“I guess we have to wait for Five and hope he has  _ something,” _ Klaus said. 

“Yeah,” Diego said. “Maybe if I wasn’t just stabbed I’d try doing my own thing, but not right now.” 

“Yeah, I was gonna say I was surprised you aren’t off doing exactly what Five told you not to, but I guess that makes sense,” Klaus said.

Through the windows that made up most of the storefront, Klaus could see the light dimming as the sun set outside. However, as it got dark sirens began going off on the streets surrounding them. This had been a long fucking day, so he didn’t say anything about it. He let out a sigh and turned to his family. “So I guess we’ll be busy for a while, huh?” 

“Yeah, I guess, why?” Diego asked. 

Klaus tilted his head back so the top of it was pressed against the back of the chair and groaned. “Ugh, I’m gonna have to go cancel my appointments for the next few days,” he whined. 

“Appointments?” Diego questioned with a tilt of his head. 

“My shop, I do seances and shit,” Klaus answered casually. “So if I’m going to be trying to keep up with this shit show of a family I doubt I’ll be working much.” 

“Yeah,” Diego said slowly. “Maybe don’t plan on that.” 

Klaus turned to Dave and asked quietly, “Can you drive me over to the shop? I wanna go through the calendar and call everyone.” 

“Sure,” Dave said. 

Klaus turned back to Diego. “Okay, I’m gonna come back tomorrow then. See what kinda trouble we’re gettin’ into.” 

“Okay, you go do your grown-up shit,” Diego said. “If Five shows back up before you do, I’ll let him know you found us.” 

“Alright,” Klaus said and got up out of his seat. Dave followed as he took a step back toward the door. Elliot also stood to walk them out. They went downstairs and left the building quietly. 

They walked through the door into the alley way. The sirens nearby hadn’t stopped; if anything, they’d grown louder and more frequent. It was now also accompanied by lots of yelling and screaming and flashing lights. Klaus looked over at Dave and saw him just as confused and wary as he felt. He looked back ahead and hurried to the entrance of the alley. When he turned to look in the direction most of the noise was coming from he stopped in his tracks and sucked in a harsh breath. 

The whole street to their right was covered in cars and people with signs, all blurry through a thick haze of smoke. The air is saturated with oranges and reds and yellows Klaus thought was a fire, but after a moment he realized there weren’t any actual flames anywhere. People were running in and out of a single shop on their side of the street, but he couldn’t figure out exactly which one it was. People were being shoved, tripping over themselves and each other in their attempts to get out of the way of people in dark police uniforms. 

Without thinking, Klaus took off down the street toward the chaos. He faintly heard Dave call after him, asking what he was doing, but he ignored him. There was a feeling, a kind of dread and tightness in his chest, that told him he needed to get over there. 

As he approached the crowd from the side he realized what had to be going on. He watched as police officers shoved at a cluster of calm black people holding signs covered in slogans about integration. They stood and held their ground as both police officers and white bystanders pushed them around but didn’t retaliate despite the growing violence and chaos around them. Right as Klaus reached the crowd, a white man dressed in khakis and an equally tacky button up shirt grabbed the arm of a black man right in front of him, his grip so hard even in the clashing light and darkness Klaus could see his white knuckles. The black man tried to pull his arm free, but he continued to hold onto him. Unable to do anything else, Klaus took the last few steps toward them and shoved the white man’s shoulder of the arm he was holding on with. 

“Let go of him, what the hell is wrong with you?” he yelled. The first man was so caught off guard he stumbled sideways a few steps, dropping the other man’s wrist in shock. The second man took his opportunity to pull his arm back while the asshole recovered and regained his balance. He turned to look at whoever it was that shoved him like that, and he had the gall to  _ laugh _ a bit when his eyes landed on Klaus. He took a few large, dedicated strides back to Klaus and pushed him to the ground, using both hands carefully placed on his chest to easily overpower him. He didn’t even bother to say anything before turning back to the crowd and yelling at them again. 

“Klaus!” Dave’s voice came from the direction he’d come from, and he started to turn around to find him when he felt hands grabbing at his shoulder to help haul him up from the ground. “What the fuck?” 

_ “Shit!” _ Klaus hissed, ignoring Dave’s confusion at his sudden actions and focusing on the man that had just been hauled out of the building by an officer on each arm. “That’s Ray,” he said as he scrambled to his feet. Dave followed his gaze as Klaus tried to push his way through the crowd again. Nobody let him through, some even pushed him back so he almost fell on his ass again. He let out a huff and gave up. He looked around and took off up the street going to his left, hoping to find the end of the crowd up the intersecting street. He could hear Dave right behind him as he ran, curving around stray, nosy viewers and random police cars and fire trucks. Finally, they reached the end of the line circling the road facing the store and Klaus broke through the scattered bystanders, racing back down the street to find his brother-in-law, and most likely his sister as well. 

As they approached the storefront Klaus vaguely saw who he was pretty sure was Allison standing next to a police officer, holding the wrist of the hand the officer held up in a wind up position, obviously between hits while beating a man on the ground with a baton. “Shit,” he muttered as the crowd shifted in front of him and he had to start pushing through people again. The man on the ground, who he assumed was Ray, was now standing up and backing away from Allison. She reached out and tried to hold onto him, but he fought out of her grip and slipped away from her as Klaus got closer. 

“Allison!” Klaus shouted once he was finally in ear shot. She didn’t react to him at all, trying to take steps after Ray instead. “Allison! Allison, come on! We gotta get outta here!” He finally caught up to her and grabbed her arm and shoulder and began pulling her in the direction he had just come from. 

“Ray! Ray!” she yelled without turning around to look at Klaus as he began dragging her backwards. At that point it was obvious to Klaus that she wasn’t going to care about anything she said to him, but she wouldn’t really fight him as he moved her either. He turned back around to find Dave so they could get the fucl out of there and found him not too far away watching him carefully. As soon as they made eye contact Dave started checking the space around them to find the best way out of there and toward the where the couple had parked the truck. 

Together, they ran down the street and away from the trouble behind them. When they finally reached the truck, Klaus and Dave scrambled inside as fast as they could, Klaus still dragging Allison behind him. He had to remind her to pull the door shut behind her, but eventually they got on the road. 

“Allison, are you okay? What happened?” he asked as she stared blankly through the windshield. 

“You saw the street,” she said weakly. “I’m sure you can guess.” 

Klaus cringed at the implications of her words but didn’t argue, knowing she wasn’t wrong. “Yeah, fair enough, but  _ are you okay?” _ he asked. 

“Yeah, I just...” she looked around at the street around them as they passed houses and people walking on sidewalks. “Where are we going?” 

“Uhh,” Dave said, looking around at their surroundings as well. “I’m not sure. Klaus, do you still wanna go by the store?” 

“Yeah, I need to pick up the appointment book,” he answered. 

“Okay,” Dave said. “Then where? Home?” 

“Unless Allison wants to go somewhere else, yeah.” 

“Okay,” Dave said and looked away from the road over at Allison with his eyebrows raised. “You need to go anywhere?” 

“I should go home,” she said. “Be there when Ray gets back.” 

“Alright,” Dave nodded. “We’ll go to the store and then drop you off on the way home.” 

“Okay,” she said distantly. Klaus and Dave looked at each other warily but didn’t say anything else. Klaus reached over and gently took his sister’s hand. She grabbed it back and squeezed hard enough to be painful, but he didn’t say anything. He let her do what she needed to do. 

A few minutes of silence later Dave slowed to a stop in front of the store and Klaus let go of Allison’s hand. She was still distracted, staring out the windshield blankly, so Dave put the puck in park and got out of his seat to let Klaus out of the car. Klaus quickly dug around in his pocket for his keys and pushed the door open. He ran inside, grabbed the appointment book and ran right back out with it tucked under his arm. Dave was still waiting outside the truck, so he slid back into his seat as quickly as we could without another word. Soon they were on the road again to take Allison home. 

“It’s gonna be okay,” Klaus told her softly, taking her hand again. “It has to be okay.” 

“Ray told me he saw Luther,” Allison said weakly. “After you took him home.” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said. “We, uh- we gave him a ride. Not sure where, but he told me where to find Five. We ended up finding Diego instead.” 

Allison laughed, though it came out bitter. “Of course,” she said. “Things go to shit in my life and you guys all start showing up again. What a coincidence.” Klaus couldn’t help cringing next to her, and she ended up feeling it and rushing to defend herself, looking at him with wide eyes. “No, I mean-” 

“I get it,” Klaus said. “You were happy with things, now it’s all up in the air.” 

Her eyes quickly flicked from Klaus to Dave and back again. “Yeah.”

“Also, I didn’t know what to tell him,” Klaus said.

“What?”

“Ray,” Klaus said. “I didn’t know what to tell him, about all of us. Ben told me to let you do the explaining, and I tried but it all went to shit when we ran into Luther.”

“Yeah,” Allison said, a little more attentive now. “He mentioned you were being weird, not saying much. And that you got even weirder when you guys got to the house.”

“Yeah,” Klaus said. “I’m sorry.” Allison took his hand and again and squeezed in response. They rode the rest of the way to her house in silence.

“We’ll come by in the morning,” Dave said as she got out of the truck. “Make sure you’re okay.”

“Thanks,” Allison said, standing on the street with her hand on the door ready to push it shut. “Be safe.”

“You too,” Klaus said. Allison gave him a small, tired smile and shut the door. He and Dave watched as she walked up the path to her house and waited until she got the door unlocked and stepped safely inside before driving off.

After they’d turned a corner and her house was out of sight, Klaus let out a deep sigh and leaned forward, putting his head in his hands.

“Things were going so good,” he muttered, voice breaking a little as tears began to sting his eyes. 

He felt Dave’s hand gently rub his thigh. “I know.”

“I don’t wanna do all this again,” he cried.

“I know you don’t,” Dave said softly. “But we’re gonna get through this. You guys figured something out last time, I’m sure you can come up with something again.”

Klaus scoffed weakly. “We didn’t  _ figure it out,” _ he spat. “We saved our own fucking skins.”

“To get yourselves more time,” Dave reasoned. “Which you did. So you can work together and get it done now.”

“Please don’t leave me,” Klaus whispered into his hands, blinking away more tears.

“Never,” Dave promised. “I’ll stay with you. All of you. I’ll help you do this however I can.”

“Thank you,” Klaus whispered again. “I love you so much, you know?”

“Yeah, I do,” Dave said as they turned into their apartment’s parking lot. “I love you too.”

Over the next few minutes they got out of the truck and made their way into the apartment, dragging their feet along the pavement the entire way. Once Dave got the door open, Klaus walked in and dropped his appointment book on the coffee table and made a beeline for the bedroom, ready to either soak in a hot bath or go right to sleep, he hadn’t decided yet. Something responsible in the back of his head was nagging about calling his appointments for the next few days, but he reasoned with himself that it was too late in the night to be calling people unexpectedly. 

“I’m gonna make some tea, do you want some?” Dave asked as Klaus took his shoes and jewelry off in the living room. He looked up at him from the couch. 

“What kind?” he asked before making a choice. 

“Chamomile,” he answered. 

“Ooh, relaxing,” Klaus said, closing his eyes with a smile at the idea. 

“Yeah, I figured we’d need it with whatever’s coming next,” Dave said softly. 

“Yeah, that’d be nice,” Klaus said. 

“Alright, give me a few minutes.” 

“Okay, I’m going to bed,” Klaus said, realizing if he got in the bath with tea he wouldn’t get out until the next morning. 

“Okay,” Dave said and went to the kitchen. Klaus stood up, jewelry in hand and picking his shoes up off the floor, and walked into the bedroom. He groaned as he dropped his shoes on the floor and collapsed on his back on the bed. He wanted to just pass out exactly where he was, he’d certainly passed out in worse places, but Dave was already making tea. Tea sounded good. 

So he hauled himself into a sitting position and began undoing the buttons of his shirt. Once he got it off he threw it onto the spot on the bed he’d already dropped his jewelry. He stood up and grabbed the stuff off the bed, dropping the shirt in the laundry as he made his way to the dresser to put the rings and necklaces away so they wouldn’t get all tangled up. Once, during the exact same routine not long after he moved in with Dave, Klaus realized how put together he suddenly was. He’d laughed about it, the idea of an  _ adult Klaus Hargreeves _ doing something as responsible as putting his jewelry away. But untangling all the chains was a real pain in the ass, so he made himself be proud of his progress. As he stood there then, shirtless and carefully putting a necklace Dave bought him months before away, he was tempted to skip it, but he sighed and refused to let himself fall back into his old patterns. Just because his old company was back didn’t mean the old Klaus needed to be back. 

He heard soft footsteps entering the room behind him and a few seconds later Dave’s arms wrapped his arms around his waist. Klaus leaned back into him and let his head loll back resting on Dave’s shoulder with his eyes closed as he pressed a kiss to the side of his neck. 

“You doing okay, babe?” Dave asked softly. “I know it’s a lot. If you wanna really talk about it I’m here.” 

“I know,” Klaus mumbled without opening his eyes. “‘M just tired right now.”

“Alright,” Dave said, though it didn’t sound like he believed him or agreed with the choice, but he didn’t push, which Klaus was very grateful for. 

“We can talk in the morning,” he said. “I know you want me to open up more about my feelings and shit, I promise I’m trying.” 

“I know you are,” Dave said and tilted his head a bit more to kiss under Klaus’ jaw. “And I’m proud of you for it.” Klaus opened his eyes, but other than that neither of them moved. “You should get in bed,” Dave said. “I’ll bring the tea when it’s ready.” 

“Alright,” Klaus said softly as Dave removed his arms from his waist. As Dave left he finished putting his jewelry away (far less carefully than before) and pulled his pants off, leaving them on the floor and crawling into bed. He stayed sitting up so he didn’t accidently drift off and passed the minutes before Dave returned by staring at his hands in thought. He thought about his siblings reactions to seeing him, their reactions to seeing Ben, Allison and her husband, whatever Luther was dealing with. Goddamn, they were all so fucked up it was almost impressive. 

“Here you go,” Dave said as he came back in the room with a steaming mug in each hand. He handed Klaus his cup before walking with his over to his side of the bed. 

“Thank you,” Klaus said as he took the mug from him and took a sip. He let out a content sigh as he swallowed. Dave knew just how to make his tea for him. He shimmied over so his arm was touching Dave’s and leaned his head onto his shoulder again. Without missing a beat, Dave shifted and lifted his arm to put it over Klaus’ shoulders. 

“Do you think your sister’s gonna be okay?” Dave asked after a few minutes of quiet sipping. 

“I don’t know,” Klaus sighed and took another sip. “She was going through a lot before we got sent back here. She was saying these were good for her here, other than the obvious stuff that came with the cultural differences. I don’t know if whatever made Ray run away from her earlier is gonna fuck things up for her too bad.” 

“She was in a lot of shock earlier,” Dave said. 

“Yeah, can’t say I blame her,” Klaus said and finished his tea. “It’s a lot to process.” 

“Yeah, it is,” Dave agreed and watched as Klaus stared into his empty mug. “Don’t worry about that. Leave it on the nightstand I’ll deal with these in the morning.” 

Klaus smiled gratefully and leaned over to put the cup down. He looked back at Dave and laid all the way down, pulling the blanket up to his chin. They were quiet as Dave finished his tea and set his own cup down and turned the lamp on his bedside table off before he laid down. Klaus stared at the small light he had on the floor by his side of the bed he left on overnight as he felt the mattress shift as Dave moved close to him to pull his back against his chest. 

He pressed a kiss to the back of his neck and Klaus whispered, “Thank you.”

“For what?” Dave asked softly. 

“Everything,” Klaus said meekly. “ For helping me. Supporting me.” 

“Of course, baby,” Dave said, fingers tracing patterns on Klaus’ bare skin. 

“I think I’m gonna need it for the next few days,” Klaus said, voice breaking as he got quieter and quieter. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen them, I don’t know what spending much time with them will do to me,” he confessed. 

Dave’s hand found one of his under the sheet. “Of course.” 

*****

Klaus barely waited for the truck to stop moving before opening the door and jumping onto the sidewalk. He sprinted up the steps to the door and knocked, bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet until it opened. Allison was standing there, looking exhausted with bags under her eyes and messy, unbrushed hair. 

“Are you okay?” he asked as soon as he saw her. “Is everything okay?” 

“Ray isn’t back yet,” she said. 

“Shit,” Klaus sighed and took a step forward, forcing his way into the house. She softly shut the door behind him. “Why was he running from you like that last night?” he asked. 

She bit her lip, scoffed, and lifted her hands a little at her sides in a kind of  _ ‘it should be obvious’ _ gesture. “He saw me rumor that cop, Klaus,” she said. 

“Okay, so?” he asked. “He was gonna kill him.” 

“He doesn’t  _ know _ about-” she waved her hand in a circle between the two of them- “Everything.”

“Well, how could he not-” 

“I haven’t used my power since I got here, Klaus,” she interrupted exasperatedly. “Last night was the first time since…” She trailed off, but Klaus knew what she was talking about. Vanya in the cabin a few days before the first end of the world. “I… I couldn’t talk for a year. I got everything I have in this life without it.” 

“Oh,” Klaus said softly. “I see how that can make it difficult.” 

“Yeah,” Allison said. “And I really liked who I am without it, but I think I may have ruined it all last night.” 

“I’m sure you didn’t,” Klaus tried to comfort her and reached out to put his hand on her shoulder. She leaned into the touch, so he pulled her into another full hug, which she returned. “I’m sure you can fix it.” 

“I hope so,” she said. 

“Do you want some help looking for him?” Klaus asked. 

“No,” Allison said and pulled out of the hug. “Thank you, but I think that might just make things worse.” 

“Okay, if you’re sure,” Klaus said. They stood there for a moment, then Klaus decided to tell her what he learned yesterday before the sit in. “I found Diego yesterday too,” he said. 

Allison looked up at him quickly. “Yeah, you said so last night.” 

“Right, sorry,” Klaus chuckled. “I knocked a lot of that out at once, huh? Three outta five in one day? Too much.” 

“Way too much,” Allison laughed. Klaus was happy to see the smile on her face. 

“Apparently Diego’s been with Five, too,” he said. “But I didn’t see him, so me and Dave are heading back over there to find him.” 

“Alright,” Allison said with a nod. “I hope you do. Did you find anything else?” 

“Yeah, uhh,” Klaus said, debating whether or not to drop this on Allison on top of everything. 

“Just spit it out,” she said. “It can’t be that bad.” 

“There’s another apocalypse happening in like a week,” he said quickly. She stared blankly at him for a moment before blinking once and turning and walking away. “Sorry,” he said and cringed. 

“Yeah, I shouldn’t have asked,” she said. “I have stuff I need to do, looking for Ray.” 

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Klaus said and took a few steps toward the door. “I’m going to ask Ben to stay with you and come find me if anything goes wrong, okay?” he added as he reached for the door. 

“Okay, thanks,” Allison said. They looked at each other for another moment before they both nodded, and Klaus turned and left without another word. 

Dave was watching the house from the truck, and he sat up a bit when he saw Klaus walk out the door. He walked over to the truck and crawled inside with a sigh. “Hold on,” he said before Dave could ask anything. He focused on bringing Ben to him. “Hey, can you stay with Allison today?” he asked when he appeared. “She’s worried about Ray but things are still so weird I told her I’d ask you to stay with her.” 

“Yeah, of course,” Ben said. “Anything to get a break from you.” 

“Rude,” Klaus said as Ben went up to the house, turning back around to flip his brother off before going into the house again. Once he was gone, he turned to Dave. “Sorry.” 

“No, I get it,” Dave said. “Back to the weird guy’s?” 

“Yeah, I wanna find Five.” 

“Alright.” And they were driving off down the road. 

*****

When they got there Dave parked the truck next to the alley and they hurried inside, going right up the stairs and to the door. Klaus reached out to knock as soon as the door was within his reach. It opened almost immediately, revealing Five with a cup of coffee in hand still wearing the Umbrella Academy uniform.

“Jeez, kid, don’t you ever change?” he asked him.

Five rolled his eyes. “We have bigger problems.”

“Yeah, another end of the world, we heard,” Klaus said, walking past him and into the apartment.

“Diego said you came by,” Five said as Dave followed Klaus through the doorway. He shut the door behind him as he continued. “With a friend. And Ben.”

“Yeah, this is Dave,” Klaus said, gesturing to him. “My  _ boy _ friend. And Ben should be here in a minute, he’s checking in on Allison.”

“Alright,” Five said with a serious nod. “This way. We’re having a serious discussion.”

“Are you capable of having a joking conversation?” Klaus asked and followed his lead through the apartment to the living room.

“Not with the world on the line,” Five called back as Diego, Elliot, and Lila came into view.

“Gosh, you weren’t kidding about him, were you?” Dave asked softly from behind Klaus.

“Not even a little bit,” Klaus said and dropped dramatically into an empty chair. Dave nudged him a bit to the side and sat down next to him. “So what’re we doing today?” he asked the group as he moved over.

“Planning,” Five said.

“Well, that’s boring,” Klaus pouted.

Five closed his eyes and sighed exasperatedly. “Did Diego tell you we went to Dad’s office?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Klaus said. “And that he got stabbed.”

Five’s lips twisted in an amused, slightly crazed smile. “Yeah,” he said smugly and lifted his coffee to his lips.

“Hey!” Diego yelped from the couch. “Don’t say it like you like it.”

Five shrugged and moved on. “While we were there I found something.”

“Ooh, how cryptic,” Klaus said. “What was it, dear brother.”

“An invitation, addressed to Dad, for a party tonight at the Mexican consulate,” Five said. “We need to talk to him, so…”

“Ooh, are we crashing a party?” Klaus asked excitedly. “I have plenty of experience with that if you need some help.”

“Where’s the invitation?” Diego asked, confused. 

Five sighed and dug around in his pocket before producing a folded piece of paper. He handed it to Diego, who unfolded it and read it out loud for the rest of the room. 

“Hoyt Hillerkoetter and the Consulate General of Mexico in Dallas cordially invite you to a gala.” 

“Wait, wait, wait, hold on,” Elliot interrupted and took a step toward the rest of the group. Everyone turned to him. “Hoyt Hillerkoetter? Are you serious?” 

“You know him?” Five asked. 

Obviously not paying attention to the serious conversation, Lila gasped. “We should go,” she said, turning to Diego who looked right back. “It says there’s gonna be a seafood tower.” 

“I’m in,” Dave said, specifically to Lila. She turned to him and pointed a finger to show solidarity. They both nodded at each other with excited expressions as Five, Diego, and Elliot continued. Klaus kept an ear in both conversations. 

“No, Hillerkoetter is one of the Majestic Twelve,” Elliot continued. 

“What the hell is the Majestic Twelve?” Diego asked. 

“What?” Elliot asked in disbelief, looking around to see if the rest of them didn’t know what he was talking about either. “It’s a… a secret committee.” 

“This just took a bad turn,” Dave muttered from beside Klaus. He took his hand and waited for Elliot to continue. 

“Scientists, military, deep state,” he said and hurried over to a desk in the back of the room. “No one knows what they really do.” 

“Wait, so they’re government?” Diego asked, pushing himself up off the back of the couch. 

_ “Shadow _ government,” Elliot corrected. 

Dave turned and dropped his forehead onto Klaus’ shoulder. “And here we go. I’m not surprised this guy’s into this kinda shit.” 

“What kinda shit?” Elliot asked from behind them, head popping up to look at Dave in response to his comment. 

“Anti-semitic conspiracy theories,” Dave said bluntly. Elliot furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head to one side. “A few powerful people in charge of pretty much everything? Usually powerful because they’re rich? Not thinkin’ about where those ideas originated?” 

“Look, as valid of a point that is,” Five said and stood up. “Unfortunately, it’s the only lead we have on Hillerkoetter.” He gestured for Elliot to continue. When Dave didn’t say anything else, just kind of glared either uncomfortably or still a little angry (though Klaus thought it was a bit of both), he did. 

“So…” he continued, carefully avoiding Dave’s eyes. Klaus could feel Dave relax a bit more from Elliot’s new, clear discomfort. “The Majestic Twelve. Kennedy was the first president to try to force them into the light, but these guys are not to be trifled with.” We went back to digging through his things on his desk and on the shelves, and a few seconds later he grabbed something and turned back around. “Here, right here,” he said, putting a black and white photo down on the coffee table in the middle of the group. He pointed at one specific man in a group of about a dozen people sitting around a table covered in papers. “That’s Hoyt right there.” 

“Huh,” Five hummed as he leaned in to get a better look. Everybody else did the same. 

“I only count eleven,” Lila said into the silence a moment later. 

“Well, that’s because they’ve only identified eleven so far,” Elliot explained. 

“Who’s the twelfth?” Diego asked dramatically. He looked between Five and Klaus, who both looked between themselves as well. Five raised his eyebrows and Diego’s jaw set and his lips pursed. Klaus bit his bottom lip when he realized what they were thinking. 

“Dad’s number twelve,” Klaus said. 

“How ironic,” Five chirped. “Now it’s Dad’s turn to be numbered.” 

“We need to get into that gala,” Diego said. 

“What are we talking about?” Ben’s voice came from behind Klaus, making him jump as a jolt of adrenaline flowed through him at the shock. 

“Christ on a cracker, Ben,” he yelled, looking back at him. “Fuck!” 

“Sorry,” Ben said unapologetically. “But really, what’s going on?” 

“We have to find Dad, and we know where he’s gonna be tonight because Five took an invitation to a party tonight from a guy who does some super shady shit that Elliot knows about because he’s obsessed with conspiracy theories with super anti-semitic roots,” Klaus explained quickly. 

“I should have stayed with Allison,” Ben sighed. 

“Oh, yeah, how’s she doing?” Klaus asked. 

“She’s still frantic,” Ben said and looked down at the floor. “Ray still isn’t back. When I left she was getting ready to go out looking for him.” 

“You think she’ll be okay?” 

“Yeah, she’ll be fine,” Ben said. “She was always better at all this than you.” 

“Yeah,” Klaus chuckled. 

“Is that Ben?” Five asked. 

“Yeah, he’s said Allison’s still out searching for her husband.” 

“Alright,” he said with a firm nod. “It’s just us. We need to come up with a plan.” 

“I thought we had one,” Diego said. “Go to the party.” 

“Yeah, but what are we gonna do there?” Dave asked, he motioned toward Diego. “I’m sorry, but  _ ‘go to the party’ _ is not a plan.” 

“Finally, someone in the group with some sense,” Five sighed and sat back down. 

“Don’t say that just yet,” Ben said, making Klaus snort. When everyone looked at him in confusion instead of Ben in curiosity, the latter turned toward his brother. “Can you make me fucking visible, please?” 

“Ugh, fine,” Klaus pouted with a wave of his hand. Everyone’s eyes moved from him and to the new arrival. 

“Please don’t say Dave has sense,” Ben sighed. “The things I have seem rival Klaus, I promise.” 

“Fair enough,” Dave said with a shrug and exaggerated frown and tilt of his head. 

Five rolled his eyes and continued. “Find decent outfits,” he said. “Tuxes preferably. Maybe something with color.” He turned to Lila. 

“Yeah, on it,” Klaus said. 

“And who said I trusted you with my outfit?” Diego asked incredulously. “I’ve seen what you wear, and I love you man, but no thanks.” 

Klaus gasped scandalously and put a hand on his chest. “What’s this?” he asked exaggeratedly. “Diego showing emotion? Saying  _ ‘I love you’ _ ?” 

“I got a lot of therapy in the fucking asylum man,” Diego snapped. “I’ve fucking grown.” 

“Ahh, I know the feeling,” Klaus sighed. “So much therapy happens in rehab, I’m glad yours worked out for you though.” 

Diego nodded, though he still looked a bit confused. “Thanks.” He paused, then a moment later added, “You’re still not choosing my clothes, though.” 

Klaus’ top lip curled in disappointment and his shoulders slumped. “Fine, whatever.” 

“How are we getting there?” Dave asked as he rubbed a hand over Klaus’ shoulder. 

“I don’t know yet,” Five said. 

“We can take the truck,” Dave suggested and raised his eyebrows, looking at the rest of the group. “Not everyone’ll fit in the cabin but I could wipe the bed down real quick.” 

Five nodded. “Alright. We should go find clothes then meet back here at five.” 

No one objected. 

“Alright,” Klaus said with a single clap of his hands. “We’re gonna go. I have some things to do before all this shit goes down.” 

“Fine, as long as you’re back here on time,” Five said. 

“Alright,” Klaus said as he stood up. “Come on, Davey. I need you to drive me around some more.” 

Dave stood up as well and said, “Of course you do.” 

“You’re happy to do it,” Klaus teased and started walking toward the door. 

“Yeah, most of the time,” Dave responded, wrapping his arm around Klaus’ shoulders and pulled him closer, pressing a kiss to his temple. Klaus smiled up at him as they walked out the door. 

*****

“What to wear, what to wear?” Klaus muttered to himself as he flicked through his closet a few hours later. He’d spent the morning and early afternoon calling all his clients with appointments over the next few days, explaining that some unexpected family issues had come up and he’d have to cancel or reschedule all his appointments for the next few days. Pretty much everyone had been understanding, especially when he explained he didn’t know how soon he’d be able to go back to work but when he did he’d be calling everyone who wanted to reschedule with him. He set himself up for a lot of extra work and he was regretting it before it even started, but he realized a while ago he’d have to do that if he actually wanted to do things like make money to survive. 

He hummed as he continued looking through the closet. 

“Finding anything?” Dave asked, walking into the room and wrapping his arms around Klaus’ waist from behind. 

Klaus sighed. “I think I’m gonna have to wear the stuff from your sister’s wedding. I don’t think I have time to go shopping for anything else.” 

“We could try that second hand store around the corner from the shop,” Dave suggested. 

“I don’t think we have time,” Klaus said and started pushing all the clothes to one side to find the dark green tux he’d worn to Sara’s wedding. “God, your uncle hated this thing.” 

“I thought it was nice,” Dave said. 

“So did your sister,” Klaus laughed. “And I will have you know colored suits and tuxes are the next thing.” 

“I’ll take your word for that,” Dave said and let go of his waist. “I gotta go clean out the truck. If this is supposed to be a nice thing I’m sure you guys won’t want to show up with dirt all over your clothes.” 

“Yeah, god knows we’ll be drawing enough attention to ourselves as it is,” Klaus agreed. “Are you coming in with us? Should I get you something to wear?”

“No, I wasn’t planning on it,” Dave said. “I was gonna wait outside. I’ve heard plenty of stories, and knowing your family we might need a getaway car ready.” 

“Hey, wait, wait, wait,” he said quickly as Dave turned to leave the room. He turned back around and Klaus grabbed his hand to pull him closer. “You’re the best, you know that?” he asked as he put his arms around his shoulders. 

“Oh, come on, whatever,” Dave scoffed lightly and wound his arms around Klaus’ waist again. 

“No, I’m serious,” Klaus said, pulling back to look at him. “You’re agreeing and helping with all this crazy shit with my fucked up family. I don’t there are many other people who could put up with that, especially after dealing with  _ just _ my shit for so long.” 

“Eh,” Dave shrugged off. “You were just practice.” 

“Wow,” Klaus said slyly. “Anything else I was just practice for?” 

“Nope,” Dave said and leaned in to kiss him. Klaus accepted it with a happy chuckle, and they just stood there, letting the kiss grow heated for a moment before breaking it off with a sigh. 

“I should get ready,” Klaus sighed. 

“I’ll get to cleaning,” Dave agreed. “We need to go in a few minutes.” 

“Alright, I’ll meet you out at the truck.” 

Klaus let out one last sigh as he heard the apartment door open and shut and turned toward where he’d dropped the clothes. He picked them up and carefully laid them on the bed, smoothing out any forming wrinkles and turning back to the closet for a dark shirt to wear under the jacket. 

He got dressed as quickly as he could, buttoning the shirt and pulling the pants up before putting the jacket on. He looked at himself in the mirror, wishing for the millionth time since he got to the sixties that he could put some eyeliner on. He debated for a moment what to do with his hair, then decided to just leave it down. All the rich, powerful people could just put up with his obvious gayness for a few hours. He shrugged and went to meet Dave at the truck. 

When he heard his footsteps on the pavement, Dave looked up. He whistled when he got a good look at Klaus walking toward him. “Yeah, I think it’s really nice,” he said as he opened the passenger door for him. Klaus laughed as he crawled into the seat. Dave got in right after, and they drove off to pick up Five, Lila, and Diego. 

“Is that what you’re wearing?” Five asked when he blinked from inside the building and looked at Klaus, who looked down at his own outfit again. 

“Yeah,” he said. “What’s wrong with this?”

“You’ll stand out way too much,” Five snapped. 

“Dude, everything about me stands out all the time,” he argued. “And you’re not gonna stand out in a fucking school uniform?” 

“Nobody’s going to see me other than Dad,” Five argued, clipping off every word. “You’re going to be walking around in a crowd.” 

Klaus opened his mouth to respond but was beat to it by Diego, who had just walked out the entrance with Lila behind him. “Lookin’ sharp, man.” 

“Thank you,” Klaus said pointedly, giving Five an  _ ‘I told you so’ _ look. Five just rolled his eyes. 

“Alright, let’s get going,” he said. 

“Who’s sitting in the back?” Klaus asked. “Because not me.” 

“I can’t,” Lila said and reached up to her head. “It’ll ruin my hair.” Klaus looked from her face to where her hand was resting on her already ratty, messy hair. Paired with her dramatic, dark eye makeup (that Klaus was very jealous of) it actually worked, though he wasn’t sure the look would survive a ride in the bed of the truck. 

“She’s right. She’ll ride up front with us,” he said and turned back to the truck. It took a moment for Five and Diego to stop grumbling about the arrangement before they could actually leave. Klaus wasn’t sure why Five was complaining, he could just blink there without it being a problem at all, but in the end he and Diego crawled on the back and just tried their best to avoid the winds. 

“So, you two are like… a thing?” Lila turned to Klaus and Dave and asked as they got on the road. 

Klaus set his jaw and turned to look at her. “Why? Is that a problem?” he asked carefully. 

“No,” Lila said easily and shook her head. Klaus relaxed in his seat and he could feel Dave do the same beside him. “Just wondering. Thanks for backing me up on the hair thing, by the way.” 

“Yeah, no problem,” he shrugged. “You clearly know what look is gonna work for you. I can respect that.” 

“Thanks.” 

There was another moment of silence before Klaus leaned toward her a little bit and asked, “So are you and Diego a thing?” 

Her head quickly whipped around to look at him again, her hair flying out around her head. Her jaw was set and her eyes were wide and a bit startled. “I… I don’t really know,” she said. 

“But you like him?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. 

“Yeah,” Lila said. 

“Hmm,” Klaus hummed, scrunching his face up in thought. “What’s that like? Sounds weird. He’s too weird.” 

“He is weird,” Lila said without hesitation. “And a bit stupid.” 

“A bit?” Klaus repeated. 

Lila leaned back against the seat and laughed. “Yeah, a bit. But I’m sure Dave knows what it’s like to like a Hargreeves like that.” 

“Yeah, it’s somethin’, that’s for sure,'' Dave said without looking away from the road. Lila just laughed again. 

Eventually, they turned onto a secluded road and figured they were in the right place based on the long line of limousines down the road. Deciding they stuck out like sore thumbs in Dave’s beat up truck, they decided to get out of the truck and walk the rest of the way up to the house. 

“I’m gonna wait out here down the road,” Dave said as the rest of them got out. “I’ll be ready in case we gotta get out of here quick.” 

“Smart,” Five said before walking off. Diego and Lila followed after him, but Klaus lingered a moment longer. “Be careful,” Dave said, expression softening. 

“I’ll do my best,” he promised and turned to follow the rest of the group. 

They had to sneak around onto the property, hiding behind a grove of trees to wait for a good time to hurry onto the property. 

“Now,” Five hissed after a moment and took off across the gravel of the circle drive. The rest of them followed quickly and crouched down next to Five where he was hiding behind a car. “Klaus, is Ben here?” 

“No, but I can get him here,” he answered. 

“Yeah, do it,” Five said. “We’re gonna need as many eyes as we can get in this crowd.” 

Diego, who had been ducked down by the front of the car to peer around at the crowd at the door, said, “Now,” and hurried up to join a large group making their way through the door. Klaus followed behind him, and didn’t realize until they were already inside that Five and Lila hadn’t left with them. 

“Give ‘em a second,” Diego said and milled around by the front door. He crossed his arms over his chest as they waited. 

“Oh, hey, by the way,” Klaus said, taking the moment to talk to his brother alone for the first time since they reunited. “You look like Antonio Banderas with the long hair.” 

Diego’s eyebrows furrowed a tiny bit and looked genuinely touched at the statement. “Thanks, man,” he said softly. 

Klaus wanted to respond, but as he opened his mouth Lila and Five slipped through the door and walked over to them. 

“Alright, just blend in for now,” Five instructed, then paused and looked Klaus’ outfit up and down again. “As best you can,” he added. “Keep an eye out for Dad and don’t do anything stupid.” He gave each of them individually a hard look before walking away.

“Okay then,” Klaus said and turned to Diego and Lila. “Where are you two going?” he asked.

“Not sure,” Diego said. “Just gonna drift, probably, wait for something weird to happen.” He held his arm out for Lila, who took it with an impressed expression, and together they walked away, leaving Klaus to himself.

“Well, we’re here so that shouldn’t be long,” Klaus grumbled under his breath as his brother and his- friend? girlfriend? date? yet to be determined? – walked off. He looked around to find a place to do what he did best in these situations- watch. They’d always stuck him as the lookout, but now he could have eyes in two places at once. He focused on summoning, and he felt a short moment of tension in his chest and a small amount of pulsing in his head for a moment. 

“Where do you want me to go?” Ben asked, appearing at his side. He looked around the room. There were a lot of people; some dancing, some milling around and talking, some holding little bite-sized appetizers, and, worst of all for Klaus, some carrying trays of glasses filled with Champagne. He swallowed thickly as he watched one of the servers walk past, oblivious to Klaus’ eyes trained on the flutes he held at shoulder level. Maybe he should have waited in the truck with Dave.

“You take the dance floor,” he eventually said, quietly so no one would hear him talking to thin air. “I’ll sneak through some hallways and closets. There’ll probably be less alcohol being waved in front of my face out there.”

“Okay,” Ben said carefully, looking at Klaus with an expression he hadn’t seen in a while. A mix of worry and pride; proud of him for resisting the temptation but worried it would eventually become too much.

“If it gets bad, I promise I’ll summon you and let you know I’m going out to the truck to wait with Dave, okay?” he said, looking directly at Ben. He looked right back for a moment before nodding.

“Alright.”

Klaus gave him a weak smile, which he returned before they separated. Klaus weaved his way through the crowd to find a way out of the room. Servers came up to him offering the food and drinks, and eventually he accepted one of the hors d'oeuvres to take a bite of everytime he was offered a drink so he wouldn’t take one. 

He wandered from room to room but didn’t see anything unusual, other than tacky, ugly decor.  _ Expensive _ tacky, ugly decor. It reminded him of being at the academy, which made him very uncomfortable. Between that, the amount of ghosts following these people around (something he didn’t even want to think about considering who most of these people probably were), and the tempting alcohol Klaus was about to grab a handful of hors d’oeuvres to share with Dave and head back to the truck when something caught his eye. Or to be more specific- someone. 

Standing down the hallway from him, dressed in black and white with a martini glass in hand, was his mother. 

Obviously not his  _ mother _ mother, who will unexpectedly birth him in twenty-five years, he wouldn’t be able to identify her. But it was  _ Grace. _

He ignored everything else going on around him- the people talking, the trays of drinks and hor d'oeuvres, the dance floor- and started walking over to her. He couldn’t see who she was talking to, but she looked, somehow, both confused and amused before walking away. He hurried back into the room and tried to follow after her, but then he realized the person she was talking to was Diego, and he decided whatever he'd said to her did not need to be followed up by Klaus’ own brand of weird shit. Instead he turned to Diego. 

“Diego,” he hissed as he walked up behind him so they were both standing in front of a grand staircase. Diego turned around quickly with a dazed expression, but he focused when he saw Klaus. “What the fuck? Was that Mom?” 

“Yes,” Diego whispered as harshly as Klaus had. 

“What the fuck?” he repeated, eyebrows furrowing and mouth opening a little. 

“Yeah,” Deigo said and waved a hand around vaguely. “And she’s dating Dad.” 

“Ugh,” Klaus said, grimacing in disgust. “Uh, gross.” He stuck his tongue out as if he’d tasted something bad. 

“I know!” Diego hissed, leaning forward and curling in on himself a bit. 

“Wait,” Klaus said, standing up straighter as his eyes widened. “Does that mean Dad built robot mom based on his old girlfriend?” he asked. 

“Ugh,” Diego moaned and grimaced as well. 

“And I thought Dad couldn’t get any creepier,” Klaus said with a shiver and looked around them. “Where’s your girlfriend?” he asked when he realized Diego was standing there alone. 

“She’s n-” Diego started but cut himself off with a shake of his head. “I don’t know.” 

“Well, we’d better find her,” Klaus said. “I doubt this is the kinda place we wanna lose her.” 

“Yeah,” Diego agreed. “I’ll go this way, you should go-” He was cut off by a loud thumping from up the stairs. They both turned their heads at the same time, looking up at the ceiling above them. Klaus looked back at Diego. 

“Or maybe we should go find out what that was,” he said. Diego turned to him and nodded, and they both took off up the stairs. They were dead even going around the curve in the stairs, and when they reached the second floor and turned their heads just in time to see a tall man with long, white hair dressed as a server land a punch on Five’s jaw. 

Diego turned to take a step toward Five, and on pure instinct Klaus turned the other way to get a better assessment of the situation. He spun around just in time to see two more men with the same white hair as the first and dressed in the same disguise taking their last few steps toward them. 

He had enough time to register that one had some kind of cord and the other had a set of brass knuckles and yell, “Diego!” before the man with the knuckles swung at him. He ducked under the first punch and took a step to the side so his attacker didn’t fall on him. 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the man with the cord, who had walked past him and toward Diego, turn back around as the first man threw another punch. He wasn’t able to dodge that one, but luckily for Klaus he hadn’t fully gotten his weight back under him and had to use the hand not wearing the brass knuckles, leaving him with a busted lip instead of missing teeth. Unluckily for Klaus, while he was trying to regain his own balance from the hit and instinctively reaching up to his lip, the second guy had reached him. He could see him grab something for a shelf and swing it at him. 

Klaus felt a sting in the back of his head before he felt himself falling over and losing consciousness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey!! so im not sure when i'll get the next chapter up. my school semester is about to start and idk what my workload is gonna look like yet. also i'm doing a piece (or maybe two, havent decided yet) for the enklave fest on tumblr so i'll probably be working on that first since there is a due date/ time limit for that.   
> for writing update (and tua art if youre interested) come talk to me on tumblr @ lastyoungrene-gay-de !!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eyyy i'm back!! i know it's been a while since the last chapter but i did write 2 entries for the enklave fest thing that went live last week, so that would be why. so feel free to check those and the other stuff written for it out!!
> 
> WARNING: in case you missed it in the tags, there is some homophobic language in this chapter. brian is here so... and not to spoil it (even though it;s like the first scene) it doesn't end well for him.

Klaus woke up in bed,  _ his _ bed, with a pounding in his head. The lights were off in the room, but soft sunlight was filtering in through the slits in the blinds. The door to the bedroom was open and he could see lamplight from the living room. He groaned as he tried to sit up but was only met with the hammer in his head speeding up. 

“Dave,” he called out. His voice was scratchy as if he hadn’t spoken for a long time and cracked as he spoke. He heard shuffling from the living room and saw a shadow moving around before Dave appeared in the doorway. 

“Hey,” he said softly, obviously relieved as he let out a sigh. 

“What happened?” Klaus asked, sitting up all the way and rubbing up his head. 

Dave walked over and carefully sat on the edge of the bed next to him. “You went to the party with your siblings. You guys got in a fight and some asshole hit your head.” 

“Oh yeah,” Klaus groaned as it all came back to him. He had no idea what that creep hit him with, but it really did a number on his head. “Where are Diego and Five?” 

“I don’t know,” Dave admitted, biting his bottom lip guiltily. “Five lost his shit when the guy hit you. Came and got me to bring the truck up to the door. They wanted to take you to a hospital but I wouldn’t let ‘em.” 

It was Klaus’ turn to heave a sigh of relief. He absently reached out and took Dave’s hand, who held it and squeezed lightly. “Thank you.” 

Dave hummed. “I know you don’t like hospitals. For a lot of reasons.” 

“Yeah, thank you,” he repeated and squeezed Dave’s hand. A lot of reasons. So many ghosts, they always want to hook you up to shit, so many drugs, crappy food, just to name a few. He was going to ask how they got him back to the apartment, but was beat by a knock on the door. They both turned toward the door of the bedroom as Klaus’ eyebrows furrowed. 

“Probably your siblings,” Dave said, letting go of Klaus' hand and standing up. “They were pretty worried.” 

“Really?” Klaus asked incredulously and readjusted the blanket draped over him. “That’s a first.” 

Dave leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead. “I doubt that,” he said before leaving to answer the door. Klaus scooted back on the bed and leaned back against the wall, shutting his eyes and rubbing his temples. His headache was bad enough already, who knows what would happen when an unknown number of his siblings were added to the mix. 

After hearing the door open, he heard someone speak. His eyes snapped back open when he heard a voice he was  _ not _ expecting to hear, and certainly didn’t  _ want _ to hear, at the moment. 

“David, where the hell were you yesterday?” Brian asked. The pounding in Klaus’ head got harder as his heart started beating faster in his chest. 

“Shit, I’m sorry Uncle Brian,” Dave said apologetically, and Klaus could picture the gentle, innocent way he furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head as he spoke in that tone. “Something came up and I-” 

“Couldn’t even call?” Brian interrupted. “I was waiting for you to show up for your shift yesterday.” 

“I know, I’m really sorry, but Klaus was in an accident and-” 

Klaus could hear Brian’s scoff from the bedroom, followed by the shuffling of feet, which he assumed was Brian forcing his way into the apartment. 

“You’re not helping your case, David,” he sneered. 

“Uncle Brian, now’s not-” 

“Where is the queer, anyway?” Klaus winced as he heard footsteps getting closer to the bedroom. 

“Excuse me,” Dave said, voice strained and tense. Klaus could practically see his jaw tense and posture stiffen. As far as he knew, Brian had never called Klaus anything like that since he never actually told him when it happened. A shadow fell on the floor outside the open bedroom door and Klaus could feel his shoulders tense as he held his breath, hoping Brian wouldn’t take the last few steps toward the bedroom. 

“Where’s the queer?” Brian asked as if it were obvious and something he could casually say. The shadow came closer but then shifted as if the source had turned around. 

“He’s resting. And don’t talk about him like that,” Dave said forcefully, pausing a moment before adding, “You should go.” Klaus snorted to himself, as if Brian was just going to leave that easily once this had already started. 

There was another moment of uncomfortable silence before Brian spoke again, low and cold. “Where is he, David?” 

“You need,” Dave said in a tone Klaus had  _ never _ heard come from his mouth no matter how frustrated he got. He sounded  _ angry, _ and if it wasn’t for the fact that he was certain it wasn’t directed at him Klaus would have been terrified as he finished, “to leave.” 

Brian took the last steps toward the bedroom and looked directly at Klaus. Once he processed what he was seeing his face scrunched in disgust. “Oh,  _ come on, _ David,” he said, disappointment seeping into his voice. He looked away from Klaus and over his shoulder at Dave. “This has gone too far.” 

“Get out, Brian,” Dave repeated, stepping into Klaus’ view to grab his uncle’s sleeve and drag him to the door. 

“Me?” Brian asked incredulously and ripped his arm out of Dave’s grasp. “You want  _ me _ to get out? What about him?” He gestured wildly toward Klaus, still lying on the bed. “Look at what this queer’s done to you.” 

“He hasn’t  _ done _ anything to me,” Dave snapped. “Whatever you think he’s done is just something I was too scared of you to let you get a  _ hint _ of it. Now get out.” 

Dave reached out to grab his uncle again, but Brian pushed him away, briefly stumbling out of Klaus’ view before stepping back into Dave’s personal space. “David, you don’t mean that,” he said. 

“Yes, I do,” Dave said firmly. Even from the bed Klaus could see his face going red and that his jaw was clenched. Klaus had never seen Dave like this, ever. He threw the blanket off and sat up properly. Brian’s head whipped toward him. 

“Don’t you dare,” he said, pointing at him accusingly. “I should-” 

“But you won’t,” Dave cut him off angrily. “This is the last time I’m telling you, get the hell out of my apartment.” 

Brian slowly turned back to Dave, posture straightening as he looked at his nephew. The expression on his face could only be described as pure rage, and despite the fact that he was looking directly at Dave, Klaus knew most of it was directed at him. 

“Or what?” he asked, lifting his chin as a challenge. “What are you gonna do, huh?” He took a strong, confident step toward Dave, slowly in another challenge. “What are you, the kid who wouldn’t enlist despite the obvious threat to our livelihood-” Klaus took a moment to roll his eyes- “going to do if I don’t leave you, a newly discovered _ queer, _ and this  _ fucking faggot _ alone?” Brian barely finished his sentence before Dave raised a hand and punched him in the face. 

Klaus’ hands flew up to his mouth. “Oh my god, Dave,” he cried, jumping off the bed instinctively. Dave didn’t respond, he was too busy taking his chance to shove a stunned Brian across the living room and out the door with blood dripping down his chin. “Dave you shouldn’t have done that,” he yelled frantically, walking out of the bedroom in time to see Dave slamming the door behind his uncle. He let out a sigh and rested his forehead on the door. 

“Dave,” Klaus said carefully, worried about saying the wrong thing and setting Dave off again. He  _ knew _ Dave wouldn’t do anything to him when he was angry, but growing up with his father left an impression. 

“Does he say that to you a lot?” Dave asked softly, not moving from where he was leaning against the door. 

“Yeah,” Klaus answered meekly, looking down at his feet. “Yeah he does.” 

Dave turned around and looked at him. He looked exhausted. “Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked, sounding like he was on the edge of breaking. Just like Klaus had never seen him so angry, now he had never seen him so upset, almost hopeless. 

“It wasn’t gonna change anything,” Klaus said with a shrug. “All it was gonna do was make things harder for you. It’s not like I’ve never heard it all before.” 

Dave took the few, slow steps toward him, shaking his head. When he reached him, he rested his forehead against Klaus’ and loosely wrapped his arms around his neck. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. 

“Don’t be,” Klaus told him, bringing his own arms up to wrap around Dave. “It’s not your fault.” 

“I didn’t make it any easier.” 

“There was nothing you could do.” 

Dave just sighed and shut his eyes. Klaus nudged forward a bit, pressing his nose to Dave’s and watched him. The fluttering of his eyelids. The bridge of his nose. In his peripheral vision, the tenseness of his jaw and the worry lines around his eyes. 

“While I admit I did enjoy seeing him get punched in the face, you really shouldn’t have done that,” Klaus said softly, barely audible. 

Dave shook his head, jostling Klaus’ head against his. “I wasn’t gonna let him keep talking like that.” 

“It’s not gonna stop him.” 

“I know, but-” 

“Look, we all know I’m an asshole who likes watching people get punched,” Klaus said, causing Dave to laugh, even if just a tiny huff. “But I just… I don’t wanna be the thing that puts you in that position with your family.” And it was true. Klaus didn’t care much about what happened to him, he’d lived long enough in enough shitty situations to stop caring about himself as much (though he still managed to put his own self interest above almost everybody else’s most of the time), but  _ god _ if anything happened to Dave he didn’t know what he would do. 

“He did that, not you,” Dave insisted, opening his eyes and looking right at him. 

“I just don’t want things to suck for you.” That was as eloquently as he could put it. 

“I know,” Dave said. “But I don’t want things to suck for you either, not if I can do something about it.” 

“You’re so fucking sappy,” Klaus sighed. 

“Whatever,” Dave said. Klaus tilted his head up to kiss him. Dave moved to make it easier and neither of them moved for a moment. When they finally pulled away Dave muttered, “I love you so much.” 

“I love you too,” Klaus said. “And speaking of things sucking…” He said and trailed off with a sigh. 

“Uhhh,” Dave said dumbly, giving him a pointed look. “Is now really the time?” 

Klaus pulled back and hit his chest with the back of his hand, which contradicted the laugh he let out at the same time. “Not what I meant!” he said. 

“Then what?” Dave asked, unable to contain his own smile that just made Klaus smile more. 

“We should probably try to find my siblings,” he said. 

“Nevermind, I wish it was the other thing,” Dave said and closed his eyes tiredly. 

“Me too,” Klaus sighed and pulled away to head back to the bedroom. “The other thing’s fun.” 

“Sure is,” Dave said, making them both laugh before Klaus pulled away. “You sure you wanna do that, though?” he continued. “How are you feeling?” 

“Like shit, but I doubt it’ll last too long,” Klaus responded. “We should get going. Who knows what kind of trouble they’re getting into without us as a voice of reason.” 

“I doubt they’d see it that way,” Dave laughed. 

“But we know it,” Klaus pointed out. “Especially if Ben’s there.” 

They hurried to get ready. Klaus, as usual, still took a while putting together a range of jewelry that’s combination made sense to no one but him. Dave waited patiently, sitting on the bed watching him fondly. 

“What?” Klaus asked when he caught him looking in the mirror. He stood up and walked up behind him, pressing a soft kiss to his temple. Klaus knew he’d just done that a few days ago, but it had been a  _ long _ few days and he welcomed the display of affection. 

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” he muttered. “It really scared me when Five popped up by the truck saying you were hurt.” Klaus had quickly forgotten to ask how he’d gotten from the party back to the apartment in the Brian drama, but he figured it wasn’t too fun for any of them. 

“‘M sorry,” Klaus said. 

“‘M just glad you’re okay,” Dave repeated, then looked down at Klaus’ collection of jewelry and picked up a ring, just a simple silver band. Klaus wasn’t even sure where it came from, it really wasn’t his taste. “Here, wear this one,” Dave said. 

“Okay,” Klaus said, unable to deny Dave anything so simple. He turned around to let Dave put the ring on his finger, holding up his right hand absentmindedly. Instead of just slipping the ring on a finger, Dave reached down for Klaus’ left hand at his side and slowly pushed it onto the ring finger. Klaus' breath caught in his throat, but he tried to just laugh it off. 

“Careful Davey,” he tried to tease, but his voice came out more breathless than joking. “I’ll think you’re making some kind of grand romantic gesture.” 

“And what if I was trying to?” Dave asked softly, looking up from Klaus’ hand. Klaus didn’t know what to say, so he just leaned in and kissed him. Dave let him get away without saying anything and accepted the kiss, wrapping his arms around his waist. Klaus wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled away. 

_ “God, _ if that was an option Allison wouldn’t be the only one who got married in the sixties,” he eventually said. Dave laughed as a grin grew on his face. 

“Trust me, if that was an option I would’ve done this a long time ago,” he said. “But I figured between the head injury and the asshole uncle I could ask anyway.” Klaus laughed a little and pulled him into a hug. 

“I can’t believe you did this and now I have to go deal with my siblings as if nothing fucking happened,” Klaus said in his ear. 

Dave chuckled but didn’t sound very apologetic when he said, “Sorry.” 

Klaus backed away and wiped a happy tear off his cheek. “We really do have to go, though.” 

“Yeah,” Dave said, but leaned in for a quick kiss before they turned to leave the room hand in hand.

  
  


Maybe just showing up to Elliot’s place and knocking on the door wasn’t the best idea when his siblings thought he’d be out of it for a few days. 

“Klaus what the fuck are you doing up?” Diego asked when he walked into the kitchen after Elliot let them in. “That hit should’ve put you in a hospital for days! It could’ve killed you!” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said casually with a tilt of his head, walking across the room. “Those kinda things don’t usually stick with me.” 

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Diego asked, looking between Klaus and everybody else in the room. 

“Diego, I have overdosed and thought being resuscitated in an ambulance was a thrill, death or serious injury have never been something I’ve been too worried about,” Klaus said and sat down in one of the seats at the table pressed against the wall separating the kitchen/ dining room from the living room. 

“You could’ve actually died,” Diego insisted. 

“It’s never stuck before.” 

“Okay, what the hell does that mean?” Luther asked, finally speaking since Klaus and Dave arrived. 

“I hate this story,” Dave muttered under his breath as he sat down next to Klaus. 

“I hit my head a while back,” Klaus explained. “I died, went to whatever the fuck kinda afterlife there, met god- who hated me- and woke back up.” 

“Okay, whatever,” Luther grumbled at the same time Five asked, “When the fuck was this?” 

“A few days before you got us stuck here,” Klaus said, ignoring Luther’s comment as Dave glared at him for it. Five and Diego were staring at him with expressions that were a mix or doubt and worry. “What?” Klaus asked incredulously. “I told you I talked to Dad.” 

“You talked to Dad?” Diego asked. 

“You talked to Dad because you DIED?” Five yelled at the same time. 

“’s that the time you said Dad killed himself?” Luther asked reasonably calmly compared to the others, walking to the table and setting his giant plate overflowing with scrambled eggs down next to Klaus and Dave. 

“Yeah.” 

“Dad killed himself!” Diego asked. 

“Yeah, he wanted to give us a reason to all come together so we could save the world,” Klaus said, making jazz hands as he said the phrase ‘save the world’ to make fun of the idea. “Which we could say actually caused it.” 

“Klaus makes a good point,” Five said, sounding surprised. 

“See, I do that sometimes,” he pointed out before settling back in his seat. 

“Apparently,” Five said with a surprised tilt of his head. 

“Well then, maybe  _ Klaus _ can figure out what the hell’s going on here,” Diego said and started pacing around the kitchen. 

“I don’t think I’m  _ that _ good,” Klaus said and looked over at Dave. “Am I  _ that  _ good?” 

“Going on about what?” Five asked, ignoring Klaus’ mini-existential crisis a few feet away. 

“I don’t understand,” Diego said. The words bursted out of him like he’d been trying to hold them back. “They keep following me.” 

“Who?” Luther asked. 

“Those Dutch sociopaths,” Diego said. 

“The guys from the party?” Klaus asked and furrowed his eyebrows, but was drowned out by Five. 

“They’re Swedish, you idiot,” he said. “Hired guns paid to eradicate us before we do anymore damage to this timeline.” 

“They did a good enough job kicking my ass,” Klaus muttered under his breath. 

“Not that it’s hard,” Diego grumbled, just loud enough for him to hear. He rolled his eyes. 

“Well it wasn’t exactly a fair fight,” he said. “Sure, it was three on three but I wasn’t exactly prepared for weapons.” 

_ “Four _ on three,” Diego said, looking down at his feet. Klaus furrowed his eyebrows. 

“What?” 

“It was four on three,” he repeated. “Lila showed up right after the assholes knocked you out.” 

“Oh, right,” Klaus said, sitting up straighter and looking around. “I forgot about her. Where is she?” 

“She’s not here,” Five said. “We didn’t let her come back after.” 

Klaus’ eyebrows furrowed even more. “Why not?” 

Diego sighed, and Klaus turned back to him. “I was standing there, taking a beating from two of the Swedes trying to make sure they didn’t kill you while you were out, and instead of helping me and keeping you safe she went to back up Five.” 

“Well, that seems kinda petty,” Klaus said, not understanding why she got ditched for that. 

“You didn’t see her fighting,” Five said. “She was too good, she had to come from somewhere but wasn’t telling us.” 

“Okay, but why?” Klaus asked. “What could she be hiding?” 

“I don’t know,” Diego said. “And that’s the problem. Dealing with liars- fine. But I prefer to at least know what they’re lying about.” 

“Christ, that’s a little dramatic, don’t ya think?” Klaus said. 

“I think it runs in the family,” Dave whispered. 

“My question, though, is why now?” Diego asked and leaned forward closer to Five, getting in his face and successfully steering the conversation away from his suspicious girlfriend. Klaus decided to let it go. “Why is everyone suddenly showing up to fuck with us  _ now? _ I mean. I’m fine for three months until you show up, and it all goes to shit.” He snapped his fingers a few times for emphasis. 

“Yeah,” Luther agreed. “I was here for a year and no one messed with me.” 

“I managed to get a fairly stable three and a half years in,” Klaus added, turning in his chair to look at Five. Diego held his arms out and shook his head at Five. 

“Even if it  _ was _ my fault, which it isn’t,” Five said to defend himself. “We only have six days before the end of the world, and the closest anyone’s gotten to Dad was that driveway at the consulate.” 

“Well...” Luther said softly before trailing off with a sigh. “That’s not exactly true.” They all turned to him curiously, shifting at once as if on cue. 

“What do you mean?” Five asked and took a step closer. 

“I saw him,” Luther said, momentarily ignoring his eggs. “I didn’t know what else to do when I got here, so I tracked Dad down and tried to talk to him.” 

“Are you serious?” Klaus asked incredulously. Luther nodded and he scoffed. “Damn.” 

“Yeah,” Luther huffed. “I got on a bus and went up there. Walked right into the Academy in the middle of some party and tried to talk to him.” 

“And what did you say?” Five questioned, one eyebrow raising in suspense. 

“I tried to explain the situation,” Luther said and went back to aggressively moving his eggs around in the pan. “The actual situation. Tried the whole  _ ‘I’m your son from the future’ _ thing in the middle of some stupid party at the academy.” 

“Ooh,” Klaus said and shook his head. “Bad move. I’m sure he gets that all the time.” 

“Dad gets  _ ‘I’m your son from the future’ _ all the time?” Luther repeated incredulously. 

“I mean, not  _ exactly _ that,” Klaus said. “But some kind of  _ ‘Oh, I’m your kid’ _ or women being  _ ‘I’m pregnant it’s yours.’” _

“And what exactly would people get from that?” Luther asked, voice borderline snappy. 

_ “‘Look what you did to me, give me money,’” _ Klaus said as if it were obvious. “It’s what I would do,” he added with a shrug.

“What did Dad say?” Five asked irritatedly, efficiently getting the conversation back on track. 

“Uuh, well,” Luther said and looked away from the rest of them and back down at his eggs. He turned the heat off on the stove with a snap of the nob. “He said I stank, which I had just spent days on a bus so maybe that was fair, but then continued on about how I was also encircled by the smell of failure and I should get out of his house. And he said all this loudly in the middle of a crowded party.”

“Damn, that’s pathetic man,” Diego said from where he was now leaning against the wall behind Klaus. 

“Whatever,” Luther grumbled and leaned forward over his plate to take another bite. “At least he didn’t shank my ass.” 

“No, bro,” Diego said. “He shanked your heart.” Luther rolled his eyes and focused on his food. 

“Gettin’ a head start on our childhood,” Klaus grumbled and shifted in his seat. “So, what’s the plan?” 

“Are we supposed to have a plan?” Elliot asked from where he was standing awkwardly by the stove. “I- I don’t get it, why don’t you just do your thing and, uh, time travel us out?” he asked, gesturing to Five, who rolled his eyes and walked across the room to the coffee pot. 

“Anyone care to explain?” he asked exasperatedly as he picked up a mug. 

“First time he tried, he got lost in the apocalypse,” Luther said around a mouthful of scrambled eggs. 

“Second time, he ended up without hair on his balls,” Diego continued. 

“And you’ve been watching the third,” Klaus said, raising a hand slightly as if he needed to get their attention somehow. 

“This time I scattered the family across three years in Dallas, Texas, possibly triggering a doomsday,” Five added as he poured his coffee as if Klaus hadn’t spoken. Klaus rolled his eyes and let his shoulders drop but didn’t say anything about it. 

“Yeah, that’s not the best track record,” Dave muttered from his seat at the table. 

Five turned to Elliot and made a classic one of his condescending facial expressions and lowly asked, “Any more questions, Elliot?” 

“Uhhh… no,” Elliot said quietly, but Diego was already rambling about something else. 

“You’re missing the big picture,” he said, turning to Luther. “Dad is the ringleader of a sinister cabal that’s planning to kill the president.” 

“A cabal?” Luther asked incredulously. Dave let his head fall to the table dramatically with a groan. Luther looked over at him, shocked. “Does he do that?” he asked, using his fork to gesture at Dave. 

“Yeah,” Klaus said, reaching across the table to pat Dave’s arm. “Was it  _ ‘cabal?’” _

“Yes,” Dave said, the sound muffled through his arms. “Comes from a Jewish tradition involving gathering, and now it’s  _ that… _ ya know?” He sat up and waved a hand around. 

“Yeah,” Klaus agreed.  _ “That.” _

“We can discuss the antisemitism ingrained in our culture after we save the world,” Five said firmly, taking a firm, decisive step toward the table. Everyone turned to look at him, as the diversion was obviously over. “The way I see it, we only have one option.” 

Luther chuckled. “Oh, yeah? And what’s that?” 

“It’s time to get the Umbrella Academy back together,” Five said solemnly. It was rather anticlimactic, in Klaus’ opinion, as he’d already seen everyone except Vanya. 

“Hell, yeah,” Diego deadpanned. “Family meeting.” 

“Okay then, can one of you go get Allison, please?” Luther asked and returned to his eggs. 

“On it,” Dave said and stood up, Klaus doing the same. 

“You two still a thing?” Diego asked Luther, ignoring the others as they pushed their chairs back in under the table. Luther pointedly looked away as he asked. Diego slowly leaned closer to him, staring at him with unblinking eyes. “Do we need to talk?” 

“No,” Luther snapped. “She’s married.” 

“Whoa,” Diego said and looked down at the table again. “Dude, that’s rough.” 

_ “Why?” _ Dave asked before turning on his heels and making his way to the door. “She is your  _ fucking _ sister!” 

“He’s right,” Five said simply as Klaus followed after him. “Can you get Vanya without, uh, squeezing her to death? Or do I need to chaperone?” Klaus snorted at the deadpan delivery as if he hadn’t just referenced a literal world ending decision. 

“I’ll try,” Luther sneered in response. Klaus cackled on his way out the door after Dave. 

“You’re family’s fucking disgusting,” Dave said from where he was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for him. 

“Yeah, no shit,” Klaus said, grabbing his hand when he reached him. “Fucked up on many levels.” 

“That’s putting it lightly.” 

“And now we’re gonna put us all together in one room!” Klaus said in fake cheer, dropping Dave’s hand as they reached the door to the alley. 

“Oh god,” Dave said, slowing to a stop and eyes wide in realization. “That’s gonna be  _ so _ bad.” 

Klaus chuckled. “Oh Davey, you have  _ no idea.” _ He thought back on the last few days before they all time travelled back, thinking of every time they were all together like they were about to be as they walked to the truck. “The last few times we were all in the same room Luther and Diego got in a fist fight, Luther had Vanya locked in her childhood cage, and then she blew up the moon.” 

“Dear god,” Dave muttered as they reached the truck. 

“Yeah,” Klaus said as they climbed inside. “And that’s just when  _ all of us _ were there. When we were just missing one or two Luther accused one of us of killing Dad, one time the house got shot up, and another Allison was bleeding out on the floor.” He used his index finger of one hand to count out on his fingers of the other hand with every example. “Oh! And another we were being shot at in a bowling alley,” he added. 

Dave let his head drop so his forehead was resting on the top of the steering wheel. “What are we getting into?” he asked before turning the key in the ignition and sitting up. 

“A fucking mess,” Klaus said. 

“So nothing new, then?” Dave asked. 

Klaus laughed. “Oh, you haven’t seen  _ shit, _ Davey.” 

  
  


“What’s going on?” Allison asked when she opened the door. She looked disheveled, her straightened hair sticking up in different directions with stained pajamas and a ratty blue robe on. 

“Family meeting,” Klaus said dryly. Allison’s hand fell off the door where she was holding it and let it slap her side as she shook her head and scoffed. “You ready for a shitshow?” he asked. 

“Give me a minute,” she said. “I’m  _ obviously _ not prepared for this.” She sounded irritated as she turned around, leaving the door open for Klaus. 

“Is everything okay?” he asked as he stepped inside and shut the door. 

She heaved out a heavy sigh as she weaved through the house and upstairs. “I finally found Ray yesterday,” she called down as Klaus took a seat at the table in the kitchen. 

“That’s good!” 

“He said some stuff that…” Her voice got more and more quiet as she walked up the stairs. “Forget it.” 

“Okay?” he yelled up to her, unsure if it was the proper response. 

It wasn’t more than a few seconds before Klaus started drumming his fingers on the table to a random beat and looked around the house. It wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small either. The first floor alone was bigger than his and Dave’s apartment. It was modest and obviously lived in, a home. Klaus smiled as he pictured Allison moving around in the different rooms. It wasn’t the kind of place she would’ve had in their old lives, but as he looked around at the furniture and bright painted walls, he could really see her there. Eventually he got bored of looking around and got up and started snooping around, opening drawers and digging through cabinets. 

“Does your boyfriend not feed you?” Allison asked when she got back downstairs and saw Klaus crouched down staring intensely into her refrigerator. She looked more put together, wearing a purple and green checked, knee length dress that buttoned up the front and a short, light purple button up jacket that stopped at the waist. She’d gotten a chance to brush her hair and now carried a purse. 

“I’m actually capable of feeding myself now,” Klaus said and stood up. “But I was just curious.” 

“And bored,” she added pointedly with a knowing look through her eyelashes with raised eyebrows.

“And bored,” he confirmed. “We’d better get going.” 

“Yeah,” Allison sighed. 

  
  


The three of them walked in through the front door of the shop for some fucking reason. For someone so paranoid, Elliot had a problem with leaving the doors unlocked. 

“Hello!” Klaus called out, spinning around in a circle to find the siblings that should’ve already been there. 

“They’re upstairs,” Ben said, making Klaus jump and throw a hand over his heart. 

“Christ, Ben,” he said. “You scared the shit outta me.” 

“Sorry.” 

“No you’re not.” 

“Klaus, Allison, good,” Five voice came from the balcony above their heads. Klaus turned to look up at him and saw him, Luther, Diego, and Vanya stepping up to the railing. 

“Vanya,” he heard Allison say breathlessly. 

Vanya chuckled. “I can’t believe I have a sister,” she said lightly. 

Klaus furrowed his eyebrows and watched her descend the stairs on one side of the room. Diego was coming down the steps on the other side. As Vanya got to the first floor, she walked over to Allison. Klaus could hear them talking but they weren’t loud enough for him to make anything out. He turned to Diego. 

“What does she mean she can’t believe she has a sister?” he asked quietly. 

“She was in an accident almost as soon as she got here,” he said, looking at her over Klaus’ shoulder. “She doesn’t remember anything before that.” 

“Shit,” Klaus said and turned back around to watch her hug Allison. He turned back to Diego. “Wait, so she doesn’t remember shit and we’re throwing her back into this?” 

“She’s already talked to Five,” Diego countered with a small shake of his head. “And he’s already told her we’re time travellers escaping an apocalypse she caused that we accidentally brought back with us,” he added flatly. “I don’t think there’s much we can say that’ll fuck her up more than anything he’s already had the chance to say.” 

“Fair enough,” Klaus muttered. 

Five came down the stairs. “Klaus, is Ben here?” 

“Yup,” he said, popping the P with his lips. 

“Great,” Five said simply. “Let’s get started.” And he turned to walk back up the stairs. Kluas thought it was an odd choice since he could do the whole teleporting thing, but didn’t say anything. He felt Dave’s hand on his shoulder and they both walked over to the stairs behind Diego. 

“Hey, Diego,” Allison’s voice came from behind them. “Can’t say hi to nobody?” 

“Hi, Allison,” Diego grumbled, turning back to look over his shoulder for just a second. 

“What was that?” she asked. 

“Hi, Allison!” Diego shouted. 

“Thank you!” Allison chirped cheerily. Klaus laughed at them, and Diego looked back to glare at him. 

They got upstairs and all sat down on Elliot’s array of furniture, Allison and Vanya on the couch, Luther and Klaus sitting in chairs, and Five and Diego and Dave standing. Klaus took the moment to make Ben visible. He closed his eyes and focused, and soon Ben began to glow blue, indicating he was visible to the rest of them. 

“Hi,” he said, and everyone except Vanya gave him a small wave. 

Vanya’s eyes grew wide and she leaned back in her seat. “What- How-” 

“This is kinda my thing,” Klaus explained.  _ “‘Klaus can commune with the dead’ _ and all that shit.” He leaned back in his seat and held up a hand to gesture to Ben. “This is our other brother, Ben. He died when we were teenagers.” 

“Oh,” she said,wide eyes still on Ben. 

“Hi, Vanya,” he said and waved at him with a bright smile. 

“Hi, Ben,” she said breathlessly. His smile grew, and he sat down in the open chair next to Klaus. 

Five took a step toward the middle of the group and started talking. “All right. First off, I wanna say I’m sorry. I know I really screwed the pooch on this whole going-back-in-time-and-getting-stuck thing. But the real kick in the pants here, that I think everyone knows by now, is we brought the end of the world back here with us.” 

Everyone murmured some kind of agreement. 

“Yeah.” 

“Yup.” 

“Established.” 

“Yeah, we’re past all that,” Klaus said waving his hand in front of himself to gesture for Five to move on to the next point. 

“Do you have any leads, Five?” Vanya asked, sitting forward in her seat. 

Diego picked up a folder sitting on the arm of the chair he was leaning against, handing it to Five without looking at him. 

“Yeah, we have one.” Five took the folder and handed it to Allison, who was sitting next to him. 

She opened it and a second later asked, “Holy shit, is that Dad?” 

“Yeah,” Diego said gruffly. 

“That’s him?” Vanya asked, sliding over on the couch to look at the folder in Allison’s hand. 

“Standing on the grassy knoll,” Diego added. Vanya looked up at Five as he started talking again. 

“Diego and I have been trying to talk to Dad about what exactly this means.” 

“Hey!” Klaus yelped from his seat across the room.

“And Klaus was there for some of it,” Five added quickly then tilted his head disappointedly. “So far, we’ve got nothing.” 

“Not nothing,” Diego corrected lowly. “He’s planning to kill Kennedy.” 

“Maybe,” Five said quickly, turning to Diego and giving him a condescending look. 

“Hold on,” Vanya said, waving her arms for Five to back up. “Kennedy? Like the president?” 

“Yeah,” Diego said. “He’s going to be assassinated in Dallas in a few days.” 

“You failed to fucking mention that, Klaus!” Dave said, fairly loudly, from behind him. He turned around and looked up at him. 

“Did I not?” he asked. 

“No!” 

“Whoops.” Dave let his drop so his chin was against his chest for a moment before looking up and apparently accepting it and moving on. 

“Anyway…” Five said flatly to get their attention again. “We have no idea who or what sets doomsday in motion. Could be Kennedy, could be something entirely independent. But if we know something changes the timeline, we have to make it right.” 

“Yeah, but how? How can we fix it if we don’t even know what’s broken?” Allison asked, shifting on the couch to face him. 

“Come on, do the math,” Diego said and pushed himself up off the back of the chair, looking at Allison. “We know Dad’s having shady-ass meetings with some shady-ass people.” He looked over at Luther. “We know he’s on the grassy knoll in three days to kill the president.” He looked at Five and took a step toward him. “So I think we all know what we have to do.” 

“Find Dad,” Five said at the same moment Diego continued saying, “Kill Dad.” Everyone looked at Diego with furrowed eyebrows and expressions of disbelief. Five swiveled on his head to turn around to give him the  _ ‘are you fucking kidding’ _ look. The room remained silent for a moment. 

“I’m with Diego,” Klaus said after a few seconds. 

“Thank you,” Diego said pointedly. 

Vanya shook her head. “Wait, wait. None of us are supposed to be here, right? I mean, what if it’s us? Has anyone done anything to screw up the timeline?” 

The rest of the siblings looked around at each other. Klaus looked down at his hands before looking back up and making eye contact with both Diego and Luther. They, and the others, looked as guilty and conflicted as he felt. Dave setting his hand on his shoulder didn’t help that feeling either. Eventually the silence broke. 

“Diego’s been stalking Lee Harvey Oswald,” Luther said, pointing a finger. 

“And you’re working for Jack Ruby!” Diego shot back, jabbing a finger out as well. 

“Allison has been very involved in local politics,” Klaus added. 

Allison tilted her head and pointed accusingly. “And  _ you _ help people talk to dead people they  _ definitely  _ wouldn’t have been able to talk to before.” 

“I’m… I’m just a… a nanny on a farm,” Vanya said, holding her hands up to display innocence. “I don’t have anything to do with all of that.” 

“Well, maybe you do, we just don’t know it yet,” Allison pointed out. 

Diego scoffed. “Listen to yourselves,” he said, getting everyone’s attention again. “Everything in our new lives is connected to Kennedy. That can’t be a coincidence. Luther works for Ruby, Allison is protesting the government, Dad is on the grassy knoll, Klaus is…” 

“Also doing some protesting,” Klaus said quickly, knowing he never mentioned the anti-war efforts to his siblings. 

“Protesting what?” Diego asked incredulously. 

“I’m part of the early anti-war movement,” he said. 

“Also a possibility to majorly alter the timeline,” Five scoffed. 

“I told him not to do that,” Ben interjected. 

“Whatever,” Klaus shrugged. 

“Whatever you’re doing,” Diego interrupted, getting back to his original point. “Clearly, we were sent back here for one special reason: saving John Fitzgerald Kennedy.” 

“You know what the F in JFK stands for?” Klaus asked, tilting his head. 

“Did you pay attention to anything, ever?” Diego responded. 

“No, but that isn’t news,” he said. 

They all started arguing again, voices overlapping. Klaus could make out some  _ ‘that doesn’t make any sense’ _ and a  _ ‘this is bigger than all of us’ _ . Five had zoned out and gotten lost in his thoughts, clearly debating telling them something. 

“Five?” Klaus asked softly. 

He looked up from his feet. “Guys, you all die.” Everyone else stopped talking. “I was there. I saw it.” His jaw tensed and he looked back down. “And I wanna forget it, but I can’t. I saw Russian nukes vaporize the world with all of you in it… in a war that never happened until we brought it here. And Hazel-” Klaus tensed again at the name, remembering hours of torture before escaping with a briefcase- “gave his life to save us, so you may need to shut up and just listen to me.” He paused for a moment and continued when no one said anything else. “I don’t know if the things we’ve experienced are all connected. I don’t know if there’s a reason for everything. But Dad will. We need to talk to him before everyone and everything we know is dead.” 

Luther stood up abruptly, an eerily fake smile on his face. “Alright, I’m out.” 

“Did you even hear me, Luther?” Five snapped, turning to watch as he approached him. 

“Yeah,” he said, stopping in front of him. “Yeah, I did. I heard a 58-year-old man who still wants his Daddy to come and fix everything. Well, you can count me out. It’s time we all grew the hell up.” 

“Oh, how the tables have turned,” Klaus muttered as chaos erupted in the room again. 

“Luther!” Vanya called as he turned back to the sets of stairs. 

“Come back,” Diego said, turning to follow after him. 

“Save it, Diego,” Luther growled, turning back to Diego as he walked. 

“Where are you going?” Klaus called. Five rolled his eyes before shifting to jump. Klaus jumped up to watch as he landed on the stairs in front of Luther. 

“No one leaves until we figure this out,” Five said firmly, tilting his head to look up at him. Luther sighed and let his shoulders slump, but it was just a ruse before he picked Five up as if he weighed nothing and tossed him over the railings of the stairs. 

“Whoa!” Klaus cried. Five blinked out before he hit the ground, but didn’t reappear anywhere in the room. Instead of stressing over it, knowing Five could take care of himself much better than the rest of them, he turned back around to face Allison, Vanya, Ben, and Dave. “Ya know, I could really go for some tacos right now, Allison? Tacos?” he asked expectantly. 

“Shouldn’t we wait?” she asked, gesturing to the others. 

“Nah, you know those guys,” Klaus shrugged. “I mean, it could take forever for them to bro it out.” He swung his arm as he said ‘bro’ to imitate punching and physical fighting and turned to Vanya. “Vanya, tacos?” 

“Is there any way that tacos are gonna cause the end of the world?” she asked, looking between the group. Allison laughed a little.

“I mean, there’s only one way to find out, right?” Klaus chuckled as Allison turned on the couch to grab her purse. 

“Hell yeah,” Allison said and stood up. 

“Let’s go,” Vanya agreed and did the same. 

“I can’t eat, can I still join?” Ben asked and got up to follow. 

“Fuck yeah,” Klaus said as they all made their way down the stairs, Dave following a few steps behind them to give them space. Ben walked ahead to the girls past Klaus as he paused to wait for Dave. 

“Hey,” Dave said with a smile when he reached him. “You want me to give you some time with your sisters?” 

Klaus smiled gratefully. “If you wouldn’t mind,” he said. 

“Please,” Dave scoffed lightly. “You have a lot more catching up to do. There’s plenty of time for you to talk to me.” 

Klaus gave him a grateful smile. “You’re the best. Did you know that?” 

“I’ve been told,” he replied lightly. Klaus reached out for his hand, squeezing as soon as it was in his grasp. 

“Okay, I’m gonna head out with them,” Klaus said, letting go of his hand and hurrying down the stairs to follow them 

“Alright,” Dave said. “I’m just gonna head home, so I’ll be there when you get back. Or you can call up there and I’ll come get you.” 

“Awesome, thanks Davey!” Klaus said with a wave as he walked up behind Allison and Vanya. He threw an arm around each of their shoulders as they walked through the door. “So, where are we going?” he asked. 

  
  


They ended up not even getting tacos, which disappointed Klaus a bit, but whatever. So here they were, in the salon Allison worked at with no food, laughing at absolutely nothing because of the environment created by seeing each other again in a lower stress situation. The place was empty except for them and the radio was playing some cheerful song from the time period as Klaus lit a cigarette. 

“So what’s new with you guys?” he asked, looking at them over his shoulder in the mirror he was sitting in front of. “Allison, we’ve been pretty rushed every time we’ve talked.” 

Allison scoffed and shook her head a little. She was sitting in a chair by a small table by the front door with Ben sitting on the table with his legs crossed. Vanya was sitting in the salon chair on the other side of the room from Klaus. 

“When I found Ray yesterday he… said some things that are pissing me off,” she said. 

“Who’s Ray?” Vanya asked, looking between the two of them. 

“My husband,” Allison said. “Anyway, he said he doesn’t know who I am.  _ Doesn’t know who I am?  _ I mean, come on! One thing goes wrong and suddenly he’s on a fucking war path.” 

“What happened that made him say that?” Vanya asked. 

Allison stood up and started pacing across the room. “I saved his life! A cop was beating him up, was probably gonna kill him, and I stopped him, and now Ray doesn’t know who I am.” 

“Using your powers?” Vanya asked. 

“Yeah.” 

“Allison’s powers are much more useful than the rest of us,” Klaus said, spinning the chair around to properly face them. 

“How? What is it?” Vanya looked between all of them again. 

“It’s a kind of mind control,” Ben said, leaning back on the table putting his weight on his hands. “She says a phrase and whatever comes after it comes true.” 

Vanya turned back to Allison. “So you used it and made the cop stop?” 

“Yeah,” Allison said with a nod. 

“So why is he mad?” 

“Because he doesn’t know about my powers,” Allison said, stopping in her tracks and vaguely lifting her arms to gesture to Klaus. “How did you do all this? Telling Dave?” 

“Well,” Klaus said, tilting his head in either direction as he thought. 

“Yeah, uh, who exactly was that?” Vanya asked. “Sorry.” 

“No, no, you’re good Vanya,” Klaus said and smiled. “Dave’s my boyfriend.” 

_ “Boy _ friend?” Vanya repeated questioningly. 

“Yeah,” Klaus nodded. “It’s a lot more accepted when we’re from, but I can’t really shout it from the rooftops right now.” 

“Oh,” Vanya said and deflated in her seat a bit. Klaus raised an eyebrow. 

“Why?” 

“So, the woman I’m working for… uh, I kinda-” 

“Ohh, does Vanya have a crush?” Klaus teased and leaned forward in his chair. Vanya blushed. “Awww,” he cooed. 

“Allison,” Vanya said pointedly. “We interrupted your story. Sorry.” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said, letting Vanya change the topic. He turned back to Allison. “What about Ray?” 

“I don’t know what to tell him,” Allison sighed, exasperated. “How the fuck did you explain all this to Dave? You said he knows  _ everything.” _

“Yeah, he does,” Klaus said slowly, shrinking back into his chair as he realized he wasn’t getting out of this conversation without a full explanation. 

“Here we go,” Ben muttered smugly. The girls turned to him. 

“What?” Allison asked. 

“It’s…” Ben paused, looking up at the ceiling in thought. “A lot.” 

“A lot?” Allison repeated, raising her eyebrows and tilting her head forward. 

“Yeah,” he said. “It goes way farther getting sent back here.” They all turned back to Klaus, Allison spinning on her heels, her hair flaring out behind her. 

“Klaus, what’s he talking about?” 

Klaus sighed, accepting his stupid fate. “So, before Five dropped us here,” he started. “I had already time travelled before.” 

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Allison asked. 

“Okay,” he said, changing his approach. “So, I know you don’t remember, Vanya-” He gestured toward to her show he didn’t expect her to understand shit about what came next- “but a few days before the end, when those guys came in and shot up the house-” 

“Wait, when  _ what?” _ Vanya asked, sitting up in her chair. 

“Our lives are beyond fucked, okay,” Klaus said and moved on. “They worked for Five’s weird time travelling company who wanted to make sure the world ended, and they kidnapped me.” Allison and Vanya both opened their mouths. “Can I just finish first?” Klaus snapped. They both closed their mouths again. “Good. So, they kidnapped and tortured me for a while, then Diego’s cop friend came and saved me and I escaped. On my way out I grabbed a briefcase they were hiding away. I figured I could pawn if or anything in it for drug money. But it turned out it was actually their time machine thing, and I ended up landing in the Vietnam War.”

“Wait, when is that one?” Vanya asked. 

“It hasn’t happened yet,” Klaus said quickly. Vanya sighed and put her head in her hands. “Yeah, as I said, fucked.” 

“Alright then,” Vanya said defeatedly and looked back up. 

“And when I was there, I ended up getting with a guy-” 

“What is it with you and time travelling and getting a boyfriend?” Allison asked. 

“Hold on, I’m fucking getting there,” Klaus said. “And it was actually Dave in about five years.” Allison pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. “And he died, so I went back to our time.” 

“How long were you there?” Vanya asked softly. 

“About ten months.” 

“Holy shit,” Allison said and let her hand drop back to her side. “And we didn’t fucking notice?” 

“Well, in your defense we all had  _ a lot _ going on those last few days,” Klaus said. “So we got sent back here and I ended up staying in the vets shelter,” he continued gesturing to Allison to see if she remembered their conversation from a few days before. Her mouth fell open a little bit as she nodded, apparently remembering. “And I had gotten sober, and the guys at the shelter suggested I get into business using my power, so I did. And Dave and his uncle came in.

“So me and Dave ended up becoming friends after he wants to talk to his grandfather so we ended up spending a lot of time together, so he knew about the powers first, and eventually telling him the rest of the truth was a lot easier when he’d already seen me summon ghosts and make them visible.” 

“Wait, you told him  _ everything?”  _ Allison asked with wide eyes. “Like the future war and he dies there, everything?” 

“Yeah.” Klaus pursed his lips and nodded. “Obviously I didn’t tell him everything the second I saw him again- even if I wanted to Ben wouldn’t let me.” 

“True, I had to stop him a few times,” Ben interjected, finally speaking since Klaus started. Everyone turned to him. 

“Why?” Vanya asked. 

“To avoid the exact problem we have now,” Ben said. “A fucked up timeline.” 

Allison turned back to Klaus. “Then why did you?” 

Klaus smiled a little. “Dave made a move.” Ben rolled his eyes. Klaus scoffed and said, “Hey, you said doing anything like that when he didn’t know wouldn’t be fair.” He pointed at Ben. “So when he tried I said no, and that there was too much he didn’t know, and he wanted me to tell him so he could decide for himself. So I did.” 

“And he just went with it?” Allison asked incredulously. 

“Well, the first time around in Vietnam,” he explained. “When he died, I got his dog tags, so telling him the story and showing him dog tags that don’t actually exist yet with his name stamped on them was probably all proof he needed.” 

“Eh,” Ben said from behind the girls, getting all of their attention again. “I think we would've accepted anything.”

“Really?” Allison asked. 

“Yeah, he really likes Klaus for some reason,” Ben said flatly. He looked at them then focused on Allison. “Trust me, Dave seems sensible but it’s only because it’s usually in comparison to Klaus. Separate the two of them and Dave suddenly seems batshit.” 

Klaus tipped his head back and laughed wildly. “Oh, man. That’s it, isn’t it?” 

“Yup.” Ben put effort into topping the P like Klaus often does. 

“Oh, my god,” Allison whispered. 

“What the fuck?” Vanya asked at the same time. Klaus just laughed even more. 

“So…” Allison asked slowly when he finally stopped. “What do you think I should do?” 

“Since when am  _ I _ the advice sibling?” Klaus scoffed. 

“Since you spent almost four years in the 1960s as a white man and apparently got your shit together,” she answered flatly. 

“Yeah, I guess I did have one of the best chances for things to work out here, huh?” Klaus mused, looking away from them. 

“You are a bit too obviously gay,” Ben inserted. “And you don’t seem to notice when it pisses people off. I’ve had to tell you to get your ass out of  _ way _ too many situations.” 

“Whatever,” Klaus grumbled and waved him off before turning back to Allison. “But seriously, I think you should just tell him. What do you have to lose at this point? There’s six days ‘till the end of the world.” 

“Is the world really gonna end in six days?” Vanya asked exasperatedly. “I mean…” she trailed off. 

The rest of the siblings looked at each other warily. “I mean…” Allison said. “It did last time Five said so, even though we did everything we could to solve it.” 

“The whole thing was very  _ ‘Greek tragedy self fulfilling prophecy,’” _ Klaus said. 

“Great,” Vanya said. 

Allison crossed her arms and worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “I’m gonna do it,” she said. 

“What?” Klaus questioned, confused by the turn in conversation. 

“I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna tell Ray the truth,” she said with a firm nod. “I mean… if it’s all gonna go tits- up, I might as well be honest with my husband.” She looked between the rest of them anxiously as if looking for confirmation it was a good idea. 

“Good,” Klaus said softly. She smiled at him. 

“Me too,” Vanya said. “I’m gonna tell Sissy that I love her.” 

“Good for you two,” Klaus said, walking over to each of them and pulling them into a hug. 

“No more secrets,” Vanya muttered during the hug.

“No more secrets,” Allison repeated firmly. 

“Ben, come on,” Klaus said and waved Ben over from where he was still sitting on the table. “Get in here.” He didn’t have to be told twice. Klaus saw him smile as he wrapped his arms around the group. 

They left shortly afterward, the girls anxious to get the truth out and Klaus still hungry since they didn’t get tacos. Vanya drove Klaus and Allison to their places in the car she’d borrowed from the family she was staying with. They each got out with their goodbyes and wishes of good luck to each other and hopes that their honest conversations would go well. 

“Good luck with Sissy,” Klaus told Vanya earnestly as he opened the car door outside his apartment building. 

“Thank you,” she said softly. 

“I’m serious,” he said. “No matter how it goes, there are gonna be people who’ll try to give you shit for it if they find out. They’re wrong. Whatever they’d say they’re wrong.” 

Vanya looked at her hands on the wheel before quickly looking back at Klaus. “Thanks.” They watched each other silently for a moment before Klaus leaned back and went to close the door. 

“Night, Vanny,” he said. 

“Good night,” Vanya said back as Klaus closed the door, making it squeak a bit. She drove away after he slammed it shut, leaving him to watch as she drove off. He stood there for a moment before turning back to the building and making his way up to the apartment. 

When he got inside Dave was waiting for him in the living room. “Hey,” he said with a smile. “How was it?” 

“Good,” Klaus said as he walked inside and sat on the couch next to Dave to pull his shoes off. “I would say great, but we didn’t even get tacos.” 

Dave laughed. “Of course you didn’t.” 

“So anyway, I'm hungry,” Klaus said once he’d gotten his shoes off. 

“‘Course you are,” Dave said. “We can make something in a minute. I think we have stuff to make spaghetti.” 

“That sounds absolutely fantastic,” Klaus sighed and leaned into Dave’s side.

“Where’s Ben?” he asked as he wrapped an arm around his shoulders. 

“Not sure,” Klaus yawned. “He disappeared on the way back.” 

“Tired?” 

“Yeah,” Klaus said. “It’s been a weird day.” 

“Sure has,” Dave agreed. “You still wanna eat somethin’ or just go to bed?” 

“I’d better eat while I can,” Klaus laughed. “Knowing my family they’ll probably show up in the middle of the night and have me running around for hours.” 

“I don’t doubt it,” Dave laughed and stood up. Klaus whined as he walked to the kitchen. 

“Come on,” he said and gestured for Klaus to follow him. “Let’s eat so you can rest up for more of your family’s bullshit.” Klaus groaned, but still stood up and followed. “So what’s new with your sisters?” Dave asked as he pulled pasta out of the pantry and put a pot of water on the stove to boil. 

“Well, it turns out Allison rumored that cop to stop beating the shit out of her husband the other night, so now he’s convinced she’s some kind of spy trying to sabotage their movement,” Klaus said as he jumped up and sat on the counter. They’d figured out a long time ago Klaus shouldn’t be assisting in the kitchen. 

“Damn,” Dave said.

“So she’s gonna tell him the truth,” Klaus finished. 

“Good for her, how do you think it’ll go?” 

“No idea,” Klaus said. “Oh, and Vanya’s in love with the woman she nannies for.” 

Dave paused. “Really?” 

“Yeah,” he said. 

“I didn’t know she liked women.” He went back to preparing the food. 

“She never said anything about it before,” Klaus shrugged. “But I have to admit, going back in time 50 years and forgetting everything about yourself but discovering you like women? I’m impressed.” Dave snorted and turned around to look at him, leaning against the counter with one hand on either side of Klaus. 

“That’s one way to do it.” 

Klaus chuckled. “I guess it is.” 

Dave smiled and opened his mouth to say something, but his eyes flicked to something behind Klaus and his eyebrows furrowed. 

“What is it?” Klaus asked and turned his head to find whatever caught Dave’s attention. 

“Something just came from under the door,” he answered and pushed off the counter. He walked out of the kitchen to pick up whatever it was. Klaus followed him and saw something a few inches past the door. It looked like a white envelope. Dave turned to look at him warily, then leaned down and picked it up and carried it back to the kitchen. 

“What is that?” Klaus questioned as Dave held it out for him to see. 

“I don’t know,” he said and flipped it over so the side with the flap was face up. “One way to find out.” He carefully grabbed the edge of the flap and opened the envelope, showing off the edge of a stark, white card. He pulled it out and started reading the fancy, looping script. 

“To my pursuers: I…” his breath caught in his throat and Klaus leaned over to read it himself. “I, Reginald Hargreeves, request the pleasure of your company for a light supper on the 20th of November, 1963, half past seven o’clock, 1624 Magnolia Street.” 

There were a few beats of silence before the two of them spoke at the same time. 

“What the hell?”

“What the fuck is a ‘light’ supper?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i want everyone to know i started writing this entire ass fic because i thought "what if dave punched brian instead of klaus in s2" then created a world where that could happen then went "wait.... i could write all this" and here we are. about 80k words in and still a lot to go. also the whole kinda proposal thing was NOT in the original plan but i was like "wait you know what would be so sweet" and fuckin did it
> 
> as always feel free to come talk to me about tua on tumblr @ lastyoungrene-gay-de and also find some ways to support me and stay updated on my writing
> 
> (also i might end up writing the second part to my enklave royalty au that's in my head before the next chapter but im not certain about it. i might wait until this fic is done but im not sure honestly)

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on tumblr @ lastyoungrene-gay-de


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